The Art of Tracking, the Origin of Science

Transcription

The Art of Tracking
Tbe Origin of Science
Louis Liebenberg
David Philip
First published 1990 in southern Africa
by David Philip Publishers (Pty) Ltd
208 Werdmuller Centre, Claremont 7700, South Africa
text
©
Louis Liebenherg
illustrations
©
Louis Liebenherg
All rights reserved
ISBN 0 R6486 131 1
Typesetting hy
Desktop Design cc, Shortmarket Street. Cape Town
Printed hy Creda Press. Solan Road. Cape Town
Contents
Introduction .
. .
.
v
. . . .
1
Part I: The Evolution of Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence
1 Hominid Evolution .
.
2 The Evolution of Hominid
3 The Evolution of Tracking
4 The Origin of Science ,tnd
.
. .
Subsistence
.
Art
3
11
29
41
.
.
. . . . . . .
Part U: Hunter-Gatherers of the Kalahari
S Hunter-Gatherer Subsi�tence . . . . . .
6 Scientific Knowledge of Spoor and Animal Behaviour
.... Non-scientific Aspects of Hunting . . . .
.
.
Part lli: The Fundamentals of Tracking
-l9
51
69
93
. 99
8 Principles of Tr.tcking
9 Classification of Signs
10 Spoor Interpretation
1 1 Scientific Research Programmes
101
111
121
1 53
References
167
Index
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
173
Introduction
According to a popular misconception, nature is "like an open book" to
the expert tracker and such an expert needs only enough skill to "read
everything that is written in the sand". A more appropriate analogy would
be that the expert tracker must be able to "read between the lines". Trackers
themselves cannot read everything in the sand. Rather, they must be able
to read into the sand. To interpret tracks and signs trackers must project
themselves into the position of the animal in order to create a hypothetical
explanation of what the animal was doing. Tracking is not strictly empirical,
since it also involves the tracker's imagination. Generally speaking, ore may
argue that science is not only a product of objective observation of the world
through �en�e perception. It is also a product of the human imagination.
A creative hypothesis is not found or discovered in the outside world, it
comes from within the human mind.
If the an of tracking is indeed the origin of science, then gaining a better
understanding of tracking may help to explain the phenomenal success
of science. From an evolutionary point of view, the origin of the creative
scientific imagination due to natural selection by nature may explain why
it is so successful in nature. If it is assumed that the modern scientific
brain has been adapted in part to the necessity of tracking down animals,
what limitations, if any, does such a brain place on the modern scientist's
understanding of nature? If modern physicists are thinking with a tracker's
brain, how does this influence the theories they create in order to explain
the fundamentals of nature? This book will not seek to provide full answers
to such questions but rather confine itself to a description of tracking itself
and its relation to modern science.
The study of the history of science involves fields ranging from the philo
sophy and sociology of science to psychology and aesthetics (Holton, 1973).
In contemplating the origin of science, and therefore science in its most
basic form, this book will include elements from anthropology, archaeology
and evolutionary biology. And while the similarities between tracking and
modern science may suggest how science originated by means of biological
evolution, the differences between them may give some indication of how
science subsequently developed by means of cultural evolution.
As perhaps the oldest science, the art of tracking is not only of academic
interest, it may also be developed into a new science with many practical
applications. One of these applications-at a time when wildlife manage
ment has become increasingly important-is in nature conservation. Apart
from the advantages in the management of wildlife, tracking may be the
most effective means of controlling poaching. Trackers are often able to
intercept intnrders before they do any harm; or where signs of poaching
are found, the spoor may be followed and the guilty parties apprehended.
By following the spoor of a poacher, traps and snares may be located and
destroyed. Trackers on horseback could patrol areas much larger than con
ventional patrolling can safeguard. And some trackers may even be ahle to
identify individual poachers by their spoor.
Perhaps an equally important factor in nature conservation is the develop
ment of a general awareness of wildlife among the general public. Ignorance
by the public at large may well he the most dangerous threat to the survival
of many species in the face of "advancement" and "progress". Even keen
nature lovers are often unaware of the wealth of animal life around them,
simply because most animals are rarely seen. I once encountered a group
of about a dozen hikers who walked right over a perfectly clear leopard
spoor. Not one of them noticed it, simply because they were not "spoor
conscious". To them the leopard simply did not exist. Yet to find a fresh
leopard spoor in the wilderness adds an exciting new dimension to hiking.
Such a wilderness may appear desolate to the untrained eye, hut if you
are at least "spoor conscious·· it will he full of the signs of wildlife. Even if
you never see the animals, the knowledge that they are there i� enough.
By reconstructing their movements from their footprints, you may he able
to visualise the animals and in your imagination actually "see" them. In this
way a whole story may unfold, a story of what happened when no one was
looking.
A second application of tracking lies in its potential assistance to re
searchers studying animal behaviour. Trackers have already heen employed
in studying the ecology and behaviour of lions and leopards in the K.tla
hari Gemshok National Park (Bothma, 1986). Most animals are very shy and
tend to vanish at the slightest disturbance, while many nocturnal animals
may never he seen at all. Direct observations are likely to disturb an ani
mal, making it difficult to study its habits under narural conditions. Tracks.
however, give an account of the animal's undisturbed everyday life and so
can afford much information which would otherwise remain unknown. Be
cause the traditional tracker's understanding of animal behaviour may differ
in some ways from that of the zoologist. the researcher should at least grasp
the fundamentals of tracking in order to understand the interpretations of
the tracker. In particular, the researcher should be ahle to decide to what
extent the tracker's interpretation is based on empirical evidence, and to
what extent it is based on hypothetical assumptions. This is not to say that
the traditional tracker is less accurate or "scientific" than the zoologist. Al
though the zoologist's models of animal behaviour may in some ways he
more sophisticated than those of the traditional tracker, there may he many
ways in which the traditional tracker's understanding of animal behaviour
is better. Kalahari hunter-gatherers have in fact been familiar with aspects
of animal behaviour that western scientists have only recently discovered.
The interaction between trackers and researchers may change the models of
both, resulting in an understanding of animal behaviour that contains ele
ments of traditional tracking and modern zoology but which is more refined
and sophisticated than either of the two.
Introduction
To follow the spoor of an animal successfully requires an in-depth knowl
edge of that animal's behaviour. Learning to track is therefore a good way for
a zoologist to study animal behaviour. Radio-tracking (radio-telemetry) can
be combined with spoor interpretation to record not only the movements of
the animal between fixes, but also its activities. Combining traditional track
ing methods with modern technology may therefore enable the researcher
to accomplish much more than either method could accomplish on its own.
Spoor interpretation may also be of great value in determining the dis
tribution of animals, particularly rare species that may never be seen. For
example, I once found the spoor of a spotted-necked otter along the Sabi
River in the Sahi Sand Nature Reserve. Yet Pienaar et a!. (19RO) maintain
that there is no positive evidence of the occurrence of the spotted-necked
otter in the Kmger National Park. \1y discovery in the adjacent Sabi Sand
l\iature Reserve of the unmistakable spoor of such an otter (claws and webs
indicate that it could not have been a Cape clawless otter) suggests that
it may well occur in the Kmger National Park. To make a survey of what
animals occur in any area. especially those animals which are rarely seen,
strips of ground can he prepared at strategic places Oike waterholes and
paths) to create ideal conditions for near-perfect footprints.
Spoor interpretation could also enable farmers to identify and locate prob
lem animals, in order to take effective action to protect their crop and
livestock without inadvertently killing innocent animals. The ability to iden
tify specific problems may enable farmers to solve them in ways that not
only protect their economic interests but are also more compatible with
nature conservation. Since farmers are the owners of the largest areas of
private ground, it is important that conflicts between farming interests and
nature conservation should be minimised.
Perhaps the most controversial issue relating to the modern application of
tracking is that of "trophy" hunting or hunting for "sport"'. In considering the
ethics of killing animals. a distinction should he made between killing for
self-preservation (for food or in self-defence > which is morally justifiable,
and the unnecessary killing of animals (for ""pleasure·· or some other reason)
which is morally unacceptable.
Human populations are in direct competition for food and terrain with
other animal populations, so the killing of animals is often unavoidable.
(Vegetarians who object in principle to the killing of animals must hear
in mind thai farmers also kill animals to protect their crops. ) Furthermore,
in today's finite, fenced wildlife reserves, migration to other areas is not
possible. An inevitable sequence of events ending in population crashes
occurs when populations of certain species reach the ecological carrying
capacities of their habitats. In order to avoid an environmental disaster,
population reduction hy either capture and/or controlled culling becomes
essential. The controlled culling of wildlife for venison and other wildlife
products is no different morally than farming with domestic stock. And it
can he argued that the controlled use of natural resources, including wild
animals, will ensure that such resources are perpetuated (Thomson, 1986).
The strongest case that has been made for "trophy" hunting or hunting
for "sport" is its economic justification. Controlled hunting as a means of
culling can bring in great wealth to a nature reserve (or "game" reserve).
"Trophy" hunting can enhance the value of the "game" product well be
yond its intrinsic product value and as such can make wildlife utilisation
economically more viable than farming. In future, as human population
pressures increase, wildlife may have no place in society unless it can jus
tify its own existence by providing economic benefits (Thomson, 1986).
Economic justification is, however, not the only criterion that should be
considered. (The fact that prostitution can be very profitable does not make
it morally acceptable.) I personally find it morally objectionable that people
should take pleasure in killing animals for "sport". This also raises the ques
tion of whether such people would not be inclined to kill animals illegally
when no one is looking, especially in remote wilderness areas where it is
difficult to control poaching.
Nevertheless, it must be conceded that some of the most dedicated conser
vationists have been, and are, "sport" hunters. In contrast, many "armchair
conservationists" who are quick to condemn "sport" hunters do very little,
if anything, for conservation, while the luxuries they enjoy are products
of industrial processes that are responsible for the exploitation, pollution
and destruction of the environment. Furthermore, some private nature re
serves owe their very existence to "trophy" hunting, since it would be more
profitable otherwise for the landowner to farm the land. I personally feel,
however, that it is a rather sad reflection on the morality of modern "civili
sation" at large that some private landowners should have no option hut to
resort to "trophy" hunting in order to conserve wildlife.
Many "trophy" hunters argue that it is the skill of the hunt they enjoy, not
the killing, and that hunting is a "natural" activity since "man has always
been a hunter". When one compares trophy hunting with traditional subsis
tence hunting, however, these arguments prove to be fallacies. Compared
to hunting with the traditional bow and arro\\, it does not require much
skill to shoot an animal with a powerful rifle fitted with a telescopic sight.
The only skill involved is the actual tracking down of the quarry, and this
is usually done by a hired tracker, not the "trophy" hunter. The attitudes of
"trophy" hunters also contrast sharply with those of hunter-gatherers. The
very essence of hunting a "trophy" is one of boastfulness. (One need only
look at the way they pose alongside their "kills" for photographs. ) In con
trast, the successful hunter in a hunter-gatherer community was expected
to show humility and gentleness (Lee, 1979).
Hunter-gatherers were not motivated by destructive impulses or pleasure
in killing. On the contrary, there is a considerable body of information
about recent hunter-gatherers to demonstrate that they were relatively non
aggressive when compared to civilised societies (Fromm, 1973). Studies of
the Mbuti, for example, show that hunter-gatherers were in fact very gentle
people. The act of hunting was not carried our in an aggressive spirit at
all. Owing to the consciousness of depleting natural resources, there was
viii
Introduction
actually a regret at killing life. In some cases, they even felt compassion for
the killed animal (Turnbull, 1965).
I once asked a !Xo tracker what his feelings were towards animals. He
explained that although he does have sympathetic feelings for the animals
he kills, he, as a hunter, must eat. He does not feel sorry for an adult
antelope, because it is food and it knows that it must avoid hunters. But
if a juvenile antelope is caught in his snare, he feels very sad, because it
is still very small and does not know anything. His feelings of sympathy
even extended to arthropods. He explained that if he sees a beetle with
one broken leg, he will feel sorry for it. But he does not feel sorry for a
scorpion when he kills it, because it will not feel sorry for him if it stings
him.
One morning after he had killed a gemsbok, the same tracker pointed out
a fresh gemsbok spoor close to the kill site. With a rather sad expression
on his face, he explained that it was the spoor of the killed gemshok's
companion. He further maintained that because they grew up together,
the gemsbok would always come back to that spot to look for its lost
companion. The sympathetic way in which he told this story brings home
the inevitable contradiction created by the way the tracker identifies himself
with his quarry. To track down an animal, the tracker must ask himself what
he would do if he were that animal. In the process of projecting himself
into the position of the animal, he actually feels like the animal. The tracker
therefore develops a sympathetic relationship with the animal, which he
then kills. In the course of this book I hope tl:at the reader will understand
this empathetic aspect of the art of tracking, and of the origin of science.
The first part of the book will cover the early development of hominid
subsistence. It seeks to situate tracking in the overall context of hominid
evolution and to link it to development in creative thinking and imagination.
The second part takes a closer look at hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari and
their knowledge of spoor and animal behaviour in general. Special attention
is given to non-scientific modes of awareness. In the third and final part,
an explication is given of the fundamentals of tracking, before ending with
a look at the links bet"'een the art of tracking and modern science.
I would like to thank:
My parents for their financial assistance and support, without which this
book would not have been possible.
Bahhah, Jehjeh and Hewha at Ngwatle Pan and N!am!kahe, Kayate, N!ate
and Boroh//xao of Lone Tree for their hospitality, friendship and for sharing
their knowledge of tracking. Lefi Cooper at Lokgwabe who accompanied
me and acted as translator and The Office of the President of Botswana for
a research permit.
Prof. John Parkington, Prof. A. C. Brown, Dr A.G. Morris and Dr ].F. Thack
eray for critical reading of various parts of the manuscript.
ix
Prof. T. ]. Stewart for calculating the percentage of trackers' estimates at
spoor age that fall within the mean absolute deviation of estimates from the
actual age in Chapter 6.
Mr A. C. Campbell, Dr J. Deacon, Ms A. Levett, Mr A. T. Welsh and my
brothers Wilhelm and Deon for advice and criticism.
Miss Y. F. Stockwell, Miss E. Coetzee, Mrs M. E. Clarke, Mrs E. van Niekerk
and Miss E. Snyman for typing various parts of the manuscript.
David and Marie Philip, Mike Kantey, Russell Martin, Alison Hill and the
other staff members of David Philip Publishers for the production of this
book.
Acknowledgements
The author has drawn all the pictures in the book himself. We would like
to thank the following for permission to base some of the illustrations on
their work:
William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd, for the illustrations on pages 140, 1 Lf 1 and
143, based on P. Bang and P. Dahlstrom: Collins Guide to Animal Tracks
and Signs, 1972;
Lexicon Publishers (Pty) Ltd, for the illustration facing page '51, based on
that found in]. Hanks: Mammals of Southern Africa, 1974;
John Reader, for the illustration facing page 3, based on a photograph in
an article: 'The Fossil Footprints of Laetoli' in Scientific American vol. 246
no. 2, 1982;
George Weidenfeld & Nicholson Ltd, for the illustrations on page 6, based
on work in Francois Bordes: 1be Old Stone Age (trans. J.E. Anderson), World
University Library, 1968; and on page 40, based on work in A. Marshack:
1be Roots of Civilization, 1972.
X
The Evolution of Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence
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1
Hominid Evolution
A period of hundreds of thousands of years culminated in some of the most
important adaptations of the human species: hunting and gathering. From
this adaptation comes much of our intellect, emotions and basic social life.
Only the last 10 000 years have seen the development of an agricultural
way of life, and there is no evidence of significant biological change during
that period. In order, therefore, to understand the origin and nature of
modern* human hehaviour (and the human intellect in particular), we need
to understand the evolution of hunter-gatherer subsistence (Washburn and
Lancaster, 196�).
Human evolution, however, cannot he treated in isolation from the en
vironment. The environment is not a static background, but an interacting
agent, and humans should be seen as a part of the biological community.
A full understanding of human evolution would require a study of com
munity evolution as the product of ecological interactions (Foley, 1 984a).
Nevertheless, since the quest for food is the primary subsistence adaptation,
the evolution of hunting and gathering would have played a principal part
in hominid evolution. And since the art of tracking is one of the most fun
damental and universal factors in hunting, the evolution of tracking "\V auld
have played an important role in the development of hunting.
The suhject of tracking unavoidably emphasises the role of hunting. This
is unfortunate since too much emphasis has been put on the role of hunting
in the past. The hunting adaptation should be seen in the context of other
equally important adaptations. Since it is beyond the scope of this book to
deal with all aspects of hunter-gatherer subsistence with equal emphasis,
it is important to rememher that it deals with only one aspect of a very
complex process.
The "hunting hypothesis", which originated at the beginning of the twen
tieth century, regards the hunting adaptation as the essential variation upon
which everything else in human evolution depended. Within that hypothe
sis, in particuldr. there has also arisen a tendency to stress human aggression.
This tendency has been taken to extremes in the "killer ape" interpretation
*
Here I mean "modern" in the archaeological sense of the word.
popularised by Ardrey 0961; 1976) where one characteristic of human be
haviour is stressed at the expense of all others (Gowlett, 1984).
It has been pointed out that the traditional "Man the Hunter" formulation
of human evolution, with the emphasis on hunting and male dominance, is
an outcome of male bias on the part of anthropologists working in a male
dominated world. These anthropologists have played down the evolutionary
importance of the women's role: their economic contribution in gathering
and sharing food; their role as primary socialisers and pivotal members
of the family unit; and their role as female information "hankers" in the
success of male hunters. Earlier anthropological bias also denies women's
direct involvement in hunting (Dahlberg, 198 1 ) . As far as the art of tracking is
concerned, we should remember that both men and women were involved.
The art of tracking, as practised by contemporary trackers of the Kalahari,
is a science that requires fundamentally the same inteHectual abilities a�
modern physics and mathematics. It may well have been the first creative
science practised by the earliest members of anatomically modern (a.m.)
Homo sapiens who had modern intellects. Natural selection for an ability to
interpret tracks and signs may have played a significant role in the evolution
of the scientific intellect.
Early Hominids
David Pilbeam ( 1984) describes how the earliest undoubted evidence of ho
minids dates back about four million years. The Australopithecines included
Australopitheczts afarensis, Aztstralopithecus africanzts, AzlstralopithecllS ro
bustus and Australopithecus boisei. Footprint evidence of bipedal hominids,
uncovered at Laetoli in Tanzania ( see illustration facing page 3) is dated at
3 , 75 million years ago; and specimens of Australopithecus afarensis, in
cluding the half-complete skeleton of "Lucy·· found at Hadar in Ethiopia,
are dated between four and three million years ago. Early forms of Aus
tralopithecus had primitive ape-like faces with low foreheads, bony ridges
over the eyes, flat noses, no chins, large teeth, and brains the size of an
African great ape's. They lived in areas of woodland and savannah, away
from the tropical forests, and probably survived mainly on vegetable foods.
The morphology of the hip, knee and ankle joints indicate that they were
bipedal: a fundamental human adaptation, which appears to predate the
first clear evidence of tool making and the expansion of the brain.
The Homo lineage
Some time around two million years ago a larger-brained hominid, Homo
habilis, lived contemporaneously with A. hoisei. Its face was still primitive,
hut the hack teeth were narrower. Its brain was not only larger, hut also more
sophisticated. For the first time the bulge of Broca's area is evident. This re
gion is essential for speech, which suggests that Homo habilis probably had
the neurological equipment for at least rudimentary speech CWeaver, 198)).
At the same time that A. boisei and Homo habilis appear in Africa, so do
the first concentrations of used or altered stone, often brought from some
Hominid Evolution
distance away, together with animal remains. These sites may be explained
in terms of a shift in diet to include more animal food, generally attributed
to Homo hahilis rather than A. hoisei. The dietary change and the increase
in brain size are also causally linked. It is not known however, whether
Homo habilis was a hunter-gatherer or still basically vegetarian, adding
meat to its diet by scavenging (Pilbeam, 1984). The prevailing view among
palaeanthropologists is that Homo habilis was temporally and morphologi
cally intermediate between A. africanus and Homo erectus (Stringer, 1984).
Homo erectus. the first widely distributed hominid species, first appeared
in Africa some 1,6 million years ago. Larger-brained than Homo habilis, it
had front teeth as big as those of earlier hominids, but its back teeth and its
face were smaller. It still had a protruding jaw, no chin, thick brow ridges,
and a long low skull (Pilbeam, 1984). Evidence of Homo erectus is found
in east, south and north Africa, as well as south-eastern and eastern Asia.
Because Homo erectus had a substantially improved ability to exploit the
environment, it was able to move into more marginal ecological niches
(Weaver, 1985).
Homo erectus was the maker of the Acheulean toolkit, which included
large, symmetrically-flaked stone bifaces. or "hand axes". The Acheulean
toolkit was a simple but versatile range of chopping, cutting, piercing and
pounding tools which presumably were used for butchering meat and pre
paring plant foods. Elements of the toolkit first appeared about 1,5 million
years ago, and the basic design persisted in Africa until about 200 000 years
ago, when it was replaced by the more complex Middle Stone Age tech
nology. In western Europe the Acheulean toolkit continued to appear until
100 000 years ago. Such a limited degree of design expression over both
time and space may indicate that Homo erectus was considerably less skillful
and imaginative than Homo sapiens ( Leakey, 1981).
The earliest direct evidence of the use of fire in the fossil record dates
back to about one to 1,5 million years ago ( Brain and Sillen, 1988). Although
there is no certainty about the hominids, Australopithecus and Homo, one
may assume that some Homo erectus populations used fire. It was probably
first obtained from natural sources such as accidental fire started by lightning
in dry bush or grassland, or volcanoes. Fires could be kept burning like an
Olympic flame, fed and nursed, each band having a fire bearer responsible
for keeping it alive (Pfeiffer, 1978). Perhaps smoking pipes were invented
as a convenient portable source of fire, continually fed with dry grass and
kept alive by having air sucked through them. When it was discovered that
a particular type of grass provided pleasurable �ensations, pipe-smoking
might have become a separate tradition.
The first representatives of archaic Homo sapiens emerged about 250 000
years ago. Fossils show a mixture of traits characteristic of both Homo erec
tus and Homo sapiens, indicative of evolution from the older into the
younger species. By 200 000 years ago, there is indication that brain volume
was expanding more rapidly, and with the appearance of the Neanderthal
Evolution of hand tools: (a) one of the earliest chopping tools from Olduvai (b) prim
itive and (c) more evolved hand axes of the Abbevillian stage of Olduvai (d) middle
Acheulean handaxe and
(e)
point
(f)
Mousterian handaxe and
(g)
point
(h) Levallois point (i) Upper Palaeolithic tanged and barbed point (j) laurel leaf.
Hominid Evolution
variety of archaic Homo sapiens, by about 125 000 years ago, the brain had
reached its modern size (Weaver, 1985).
Archaic Homo sapiens differed from a.m. Homo sapiens mainly in the form
of the skull. The archaic species had a long, low, and broad skull and a big
face surmounted by a massive brow ridge. Their skeletons were much more
robust and the muscle attachments on the bones indicate that they were
much stronger than we are. The Neanderthals and their contemporaries in
other parts of the world were probably as unlike us behaviourally as they
were physically (Pilbeam, 1984).
With the emergence of the Neanderthals, the Middle Palaeolithic period
was characterised by the development of the Mousterian tradition of tool
making, which included hand axes, flakes, scrapers, borers, wood shavers,
and spears. Perhaps one of the most significant developments was that
the Neanderthals (and many of their contemporaries elsewhere) engaged
in ritual burials, possibly indicating belief in a post-mortem spirit. People
were buried with stone tools and food (indicated by animal bones) possibly
as provisions for the world beyond the grave. Dense accumulations of
pollen of bright-coloured flowers further indicate that numerous flowers
were placed in the graves (Leakey, 1981). Some Neanderthal populations
inhabited regions where no hominids had ventured before, and at a time
when the intense cold of the ice age presented considerable challenges for
survival in those regions.
The transition from archaic Homo sapiens to a.m. Homo sapiens oc
curred at least about 45 000 to 40 000 years ago, although it may have
occurred more than 100 000 years ago. Two theories of the origin of a.m.
Homo sapiens have been distinguished. One theory is that a.m. Homo sapi
ens evolved in a geographically restricted area and then radiated from that
centre by migration or gene flow to replace the more archaic forms of
Homo sapiens. Another theory is that of local morphological continuity
where archaic Homo sapiens forms in each area are succeeded by a.m.
Homo sapiens (Stringer, 1984).
Traditional hypotheses on the origin of a.m. Homo sapiens have been cen
tred on Europe and the Mediterranean. It has been suggested, for example,
that a.m. Homo sapiens may have originated in the Middle East. Skeletons
that are about 40 000 years old, discovered in a cave on the slopes of Mount
Carmel in Israel, are apparently neither modern nor archaic but something
of a mixture, possibly indicating local continuity (Leakey, 1 981). A Nean
derthal skeleton found in south-western France that is only about 31 000 to
35 000 years old, provides evidence that at least some Neanderthals were
too distinct and too late to have evolved into a.m. Homo sapiens, with whom
they overlapped temporally (Stringer, 1984).
It is also possible that a.m. Homo sapiens may have originated in Africa
and migrated to other parts of the world. The recent accumulation of a
combination of genetic and anatomical data provides evidence for a primary
origin of a.m. humans, Homo sapiens sapiens, in southern Africa, probably
between 50 000 and 200 000 years ago (Mellars, 1988).
Studies of human mitochondrial DNA also suggest that it is likely that
modern humans emerged in Africa. It is postulated that the common an
cestor of all surviving mtDNA types may have lived perhaps 140 000 to
290 000 years ago. This need not, however, imply that the transformation
to a.m. Homo sapiens occurred in Africa at this time, since the mtDNA
data does not reveal the contributions to this transformation by the genetic
and cultural traits of males and females whose mtDNA became extinct.
Additional work is also needed to obtain a more exact calibration ( Cann,
Stoneking and Wilson, 1987).
With the emergence of the Upper Palaeolithic peoples, which included the
Cro-Magnons, a.m. Homo sapiens possessed a physical appearance similar
to our own and a full-sized brain. The brain was no ldrger overall than
that of archaic Homo sapiens, but within the more rounded cranium it
was expanded at the front and sides, where the nerve circuitry for wider,
more complex associations, advanced planning, and other varieties of more
abstract thinking is apparently found. It has also been suggested that the
shape of the skull may indicate the development of a modern pharynx
capable of producing the full range of modern vocalisations, thereby making
possible the evolution of a complex language (Pfeiffer, 1978).
Upper Palaeolithic tools were more finely made than before, requiring
extremely precise chipping to produce. Tool making techniques included
pressure-flaking and using chisel-like stone tools called "burins" to fashion
bone and antler into tools. There were many more kinds of special-purpose
tools. Variations in stone-tool cultures and evidence of artistic expression
increased greatly. Cultural adaptation became specific: different tools were
developed for different seasons, and different environments produced dif
ferent cultures. Major inventions included the first bone needles, harpoons,
the spear thrower and the bow and arrow.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Upper Palaeolithic culture is the
development of art. Paintings and engraving appeared on the walls of caves,
often deep inside chambers that are difficult to reach, indicating some pos
sible ritual significance. Even if the true meaning of these cave paintings
may never be known, they were clearly produced by highly imaginative
and creative individuals.
2
The Evolution of Hominid Subsistence
To reconstruct the context in which the art of tracking may have evolved,
it is useful to identify and define various aspects of hunter-gatherer subsis
tence. While the methods used by recent hunter-gatherers cannot simply
be retrojected back into the past (see, for example, Binford, 1968; Free
man, 1968) an analysis of known methods of hunting and gathering may
help to recreate the ways in which hominid suhsistence may have evolved.
Foraging
Foraging may be defined as the searching for and eating of plant foods as
they are found while on the move. It is an activity that does not require
transportation, processing or sharing of food in any organised way. The ear
liest hominid ancestors were probably arboreal creatures who increasingly
came down to the ground during the day to forage. As hominids spent
more and more time on the ground, where food tends to be dispersed,
new forms of locomotion may have been encouraged. Bipedalism, once
developed, is more efficient for covering long distances than quadrupedal
walking as practised by non-human primates. Since bipedalism also involves
raising the head to give a more panoramic view, hominids would have been
able to detect danger or spot sources of food on the ground from a greater
distance (Shipman, 1 986).
As early hominids moved into more open country, leaving the safety of
trees, they would have had to adapt to the dangers of predators, possibly
in much the same way a:; baboons did. Baboons, who sleep in trees or
on high cliffs, move in a convoy pattern, with males in front and at the
rear, protecting the females and young in the middle. Sometimes baboons
may also feed together with a herd of impala, thereby complementing each
other, since baboons have keen eyesight while impalas have a fine ser:se
of smell (Pfeiffer, 1978).
Though early hominids would have had no effective way of fighting
large predators, they may have developed display or bluffing behaviour
to ward off attacks. By making loud noises, waving sticks and branches and
throwing stones, they may have been able to call a predator's bluff. When
chimpanzees and gorillas are aroused, they often grab sticks or branches
and swing them about vigorously. A troop of baboons has even been seen to
mob a leopard, creating enough noise to deter the predator (Smithers, 1983).
Although there is no evidence that the Australopithecines ever made stone
tools, items such as leaves, stems, wood and stones may have been casu
ally adapted as tools in much the same way as seen among chimpanzees.
Stone hammers, for example, can be used to crack hard fruits or nuts. Var
ious nature facts have been employed by recent hunter-gatherers, among
them sticks, stones, rocks, pebbles, shells, thorns, leaves, twigs, hones, por
cupine quills and teeth, which would not be recognised as tools in the
archaeological record (Oswalt, 1976).
One of the most important tools used by hunter-gatherers is the simple
digging stick. Although it cannot be known when the first digging stick was
used, since wood is perishable, it may well have been the first fashioned
tool made by hominids. At first, hominids would have simply used broken
sticks which happened to have a sharp point because of the way the wood
split. Since it was first deliberately sharpened, possibly millions of years
ago, the digging stick has remained unchanged until the present. It is still
used, for example, by hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari. While we cannot
know whether the Australopithecines used the digging stick to supplement
their diet with root crops, it is quite possible that Homo habilis, who made
stone tools, made use of it. The digging stick may also have been vital to
Homo erectus populations who adapted to more marginal arid regions, since
they would have been dependent on root crops for water and food. Studies
of tooth wear suggest that roots, bulbs and tubers formed an important
component of the diets of Homo erectus(Leakey, 19R1) . The pointed digging
stick may also have been the basis for the later development of the wooden
spear (Zihlman, 1981).
Gathering
In contrast to foraging, gathering may be defined as the searching for and
transporting of plant foods to a home base or midday-rest location, to be
processed and shared with other members of the hand. Initially gathering
may have required the use of tools and containers. At a later stage fire would
have been used for cooking. Gathering plant foods may be associated with
meat acquisition and a division of labour between women, who are usually
responsible for providing plant foods, and men, who are usually responsible
for providing meat. Apart from food-sharing, information about plant and
animal life would also be shared.
Archaeological evidence indicates that about two million years ago some
hominids in Africa were carrying objects around with them, such as stones
(Isaac, 1978). They made simple hut effective stone tools, and probably
carried animal bones, as well as meat, to certain places where this food
supply was concentrated. Although it is not known whether some of the
Australopithecines were gatherers rather than foragers, it is possible that
a shift from individual foraging to co-operative gathering, together with
increased meat consumption, may perhaps have represented a significant
adaptation with the appearance of the larger-brained Homo habilis some
two million years ago.
1be Evolution of Hominid Subsistence
As groups of hominids moved into more inhospitable terrain, resources
would have been too thinly spread to allow for casual foraging. Gathering is
a much more efficient way of utilising resources than foraging, since a group
can spread out from a home base to cover a much larger area. Reciprocal
sharing could have ensured that hand members returning empty-handed
would benefit from those who were successfuL with the expectation that
such favours would be returned at a later date when fortunes were re
versed. Gathering also allows access to a greater variety of plant foods.
In foraging, food is limited to whatever can be eaten immediately. Bands
may gather a wide range of plant foods, however, whose digestion can be
facilitated by grinding, crushing, soaking, cooking or other means of food
processing. Various methods of food processing may have been developed
over a considerable period of time. While grinding and crushing may have
been relatively early developments, cooking would not have been possible
before the use of fire by some Homo erectus populations. The molar teeth
of hominids, which are used mainly for grinding and heavy-duty chew
ing, remained large until Homo erectus times. when they began to become
smaller, perhaps because softer. cooked foods were eaten (Pfeiffer, 1 978).
The home-base fire used for cooking would also have provided protection
against predators and warmth against cold nights, allowing hominids to ex
plore cold regions. It is possible that regular sharing, which is a fundamental
component of gathering, may only have become a common hominid social
adaptation in the context of food processing by means of cooking (Bin
ford, 1984).
Sharing information may save a considerable amount of energy in the food
quest. In a foraging baboon troop, as in any organised body of animals, there
exists a collective wisdom. The troop as a whole, as an organic repository
of information. knows more than any one of its members (Pfeiffer, 1 978).
In gathering among hominids, this collective wisdom may have been in
creased considerably as members explored larger areas. Communication
would have allowed a much greater knowledge of plant communities, and
sharing knowledge of the terrdin would have narrowed down the search
for plant foods. Men could also have informed women of the location of
plant foods. while women could have informed men about the localities of
possible sources of meat. Sharing of information about food sources need
not necessarily have required a very complex language. The hypothesis that
bees communicate the distance and direction of food sources illustrates that
a very rudimentary form of language may have been sufficient. although it
was probably much more complex than that of bees.
Collecting
Collecting may he defined as the acquisition of animal protein in the form of
small, relatively immobile animals. Since it does not require any skill other
than that for obtaining plant foods, it could readily have supplemented a
diet based mainly on foraged or gathered plant foods. Most primates include
animal food such as insects and small vertebrates in their diet. Chimpanzees,
for example, make tools to obtain termites (Pfeiffer, 1978).
Recent hunter-gatherers utilised a wide variety of small animals, such
as insects, lizards, snakes, tortoises, turtles, frogs, toads, tadpoles, crabs,
shellfish, nestlings, eggs and rodents. Although these animals would have
been relatively easy to utilise when found, it is unlikely that collecting would
have constituted a major part of hominid diets (Pfeiffer, 1978).
Predation
Predation may be defined as the killing of highly mobile prey without
the use of weapons or other cultural means such as trapping, vehicles or
domesticated animals. To overcome its prey the predator relies solely on the
biologically adapted abilities of stealth, speed, endurance, strength or supe
rior numbers. Chimpanzees, for example, have been known to follow their
prey stealthily for a long period, sometimes for more than an hour, in order
to sneak up on it. Two or more chimpanzees may co-operate in stalking
the prey, arranging themselves spatially in such a way that it cannot escape
(Tanaka, 1980). The prey of chimpanzees and baboons is limited to small
animals and the young of middle-sized mammals. Chimpanzees do not prey
upon animals bigger than themselves and never use weapons to do so. Esti
mates of the meat intake for Gombe chimpanzees are at least 10 to 20 times
lower than that of the Ju/wasi* and other hunter-gatherers (Potts, 1984).
Early hominids may also have preyed upon vulnerable animals in much
the same way as baboons and chimpanz"ees do. Hares can be run down and
caught with bare hands, because they have the habit of running for cover
and then freezing, relying on their camouflage to escape detection. Some
francolins may be caught in a similar way, since they have the habit of only
flying up three times when disturbed, after which they simply freeze. (Pfeif
fer, 1978).
As hominids adapted to bipedalism, they gained increased efficiency in
covering large distances, but at the expense of speed. Since speed is more
important for predators, bipedal hominids would have heen less efficient
predators than quadrupedal chimpanzees or baboons (Shipman, 1986). It is
unlikely, therefore, that predation would have played a significant role in
meat acquisition by hominids. They were better adapted to scavenging, for
which endurance is more important (Shipman, 1986).
Scavenging
Scavenging may be defined as the obtaining of meat from carcasses of
animals killed by other species, or of animals that died of non-predatory
causes. It has been observed in non-human primates such as chimpanzees,
baboons and orangutans. These observations support the idea that early
•
NOTE: Strictly speaking, the term "Ju/wasi" is an approximation of the correct phonological
rendering "Zu/'hoasi" (after Snyman, 1975). For the sake of continuity. however, we have
stayed with the more popular rendering. The Jwwasi are also known as the 'Kung.
Tbe Evolution of Hominid Subsistence
Pleistocene hominids may have scavenged (Hasegawa et al., 1983). Foraging
hominids could have utilised any dead animals they happened to find, but
they probably would have had access only to skeletal parts of low food
utility, after carcasses had been abandoned by predators and scavengers. It
is unlikely that early foraging hominids were engaged in anything more than
casual scavenging to supplement a diet consisting mainly of plant foods.
More active, systematic scavenging (which requires greater mobility) would
only have been possible with a subsistence strategy based on a division of
labour.
In contrast to casual scavenging, systematic scavenging may be defined
as the active search for carcasses. Watching for circling vultures to deter
mine the locality of carcasses, hominids could have significantly increased
their access to meat. Bipedalism would have fulfilled the scavengers' needs
to cover large areas, since it is more efficient than the quadrupedal walk
ing practised by non-human primates. Having a raised head would have
also improved their ability to spot carcasses on the ground. The reten
tion of arboreal adaptations would have reduced the threat of competition,
since hominids would have been able to retreat into trees to consume scav
enged meat (Shipman, 1986). Conflict with nocturnal animals may have
been avoided by scavenging at midday. Although mammalian carnivores
watch vultures to locate carcasses, a high percentage of carcasses which
are first reached by vultures go untouched by mammalian carnivore�. The
hominids' access to such a source of meat may therefore have depended
on their reaching it before the ,·ultures devoured it (Potts, 1984).
Stone tools would have enabled hominids to cut through tough hides of
large animals. giving them access to meat that would have been difficult to
get at with their bare hands and teeth. It would also have enabled them to
butcher an animal more quickly, thereby allowing them to retreat to safety
in order to avoid competition brought by the arrival of dangerous carnivores
(Shipman, 1986). Even before modified stone tools were made, stones may
have been used to crack bones to gain access to marrow.
While hominids may have had access to carcasses where no other carni
vores, except for vultures, were present, competition with other species for
meat may in fact have been an important factor in increasing the amount
of meat in their diet. The ability to drive off other scavengers, such as jack
als and hyaenas. would not only have given hominids access to a larger
number of carcasses, hut also to greater portions of the carcasses.
A further advance on systematic scavenging might be seen in two varia
tions: pirating and robbing. Pirating may be defined as the appropriation of
the fresh kills of other predators by means of greater strength or superior
numbers. lions, for example, may use their superior strength to appropriate
the kill of spotted hyaenas. A very large group of spotted hyaenas, on the
other hand, may turn the tables and appropriate a lion kill. Pirating has
also been observed among non-human primates, and it may have occurred
among early hominids. But, since predatory animals that were weaker than
hominids would not have killed very large animals, it is unlikely that ho
minids would have acquired much meat by pirating.
Meat robbing, on the other hand, may be defined as appropriation of the
fresh kills of dangerous predators by means of weapons, fire or bluffing.
These methods are intended to compensate for lack of physical strength.
The earliest weapons were probably used for self-defence rather than for
killing prey. From using weapons for self-defence against predators, some
hominids may have developed the ability to use them to drive off scavengers
and predators from fresh kills. Stones may have been thrown as missiles, and
clubs and spears wielded to ward off attacks. Though some of the smaller
and more timid scavengers and predators ( such as single or small numbers
of jackals, hyaenas, cheetahs or hunting dogs) may have been driven off in
this way, it is unlikely that hominids would have been able to chase away
large predators such as lions, by physically attacking them.
Fire, which may initially have provided protection against predators, may
also have been used more aggressively. By hurling glowing pieces of wood
or setting fire to the grass, as recent hunter-gatherers of the Kahalari have
been observed to do (Steyn, 1984a), even lions may he driven off.
Finally, bluffing would have increased the effectiveness of meat robbing.
not only in reducing the risk of injury by avoiding physical contact, but
also in enabling hominids to drive off predators that were too dangerous to
confront directly. Although many animals use displays or startle responses in
self-defence to bewilder a predator momentarily in order to give themselves
time to escape, it seems unlikely that unarmed hominids would have had
the confidence to deliberately bluff dangerous predators. While it may be
reverted to as a last resort, bluffing dangerous predators to drive them from
their kills is a hold aggressive act that requires knowledge of how different
predators react under specific conditions. Relying initially on their weapons
to frighten off the smaller scavengers and predators, hominids may have
discovered that wielding clubs, throwing stones and shouting had the effect
of driving them off even before physical contact was made. Weapons might
have given some hominids the confidence to confront more dangerous
predators.
Baboons have been observed to charge at cheetahs, causing the cats to run
off, so it is possible that early hominids may have done the same. Although
cheetahs may easily be driven off their kill, they are not so easy to locate
before they consume their prey. Cheetahs hum silently and quickly. usually
kill small to medium-sized animals. and consume meat rapidly ( Potts, 1984).
Robbing the kills of cheetahs would therefore have accounted for only a
small amount of meat whenever hominids were lucky enough to find a
cheetah who had just killed an animal.
Wild dogs are highly effective hunters that are easy to chase away from
their kills (Pfeiffer, 1978), but their habit of hunting in social groups would
have made them more formidable to early hominids. The same would also
apply to hyaenas hunting in social groups. Large groups also consume meat
on a carcass much more quickly, so that hominids would have had to arrive
soon after the kill to obtain a fair portion.
Early hominids may have been able to scavenge and even appropriate
stored leopard kills. Knowing that a leopard consumes carcasses over a
period of time and temporarily abandons its tree-stored kills, hominids
would have heen ahle to scavenge them during the leopard's absence. The
leopard's solitary nature and its apparent diurnal timidity towards certain
non-human primates and modern humans, suggests that the risk of being
confronted by a leopard at its kill during the day may have been low (Cav
allo, 1987).
Their size and their sociality make lions the most formidable predators
for hominids to deal with, yet recent hunter-gatherers' use of bluffing to
appropriate lion kills (see Chapter 5) suggests that hominid scavengers may
have done the same. It is not known, however, when this method wa,-,
first u�ed. To drive lions off their kill requires careful study and timing to
choose the right psychological moment. In comparison to other predators,
lions would therefore have heen much more difficult to drive off, hut since
the) hunt larger prey .mimals, the meat yield would have been greater.
Generally speaking, the efficiency of meat robbing would have depended
on the number of hominids involved, the kind of scavengers or predators
confronted and their numbers, and the meat yield. The larger the number
of hominids involved, the more effectively they would he able to drive off
other carnivores, hut the lower the meat yield per hominid would be. While
animals like cheetahs could easily he driven off, the meat yield would have
been very low. Robbing lion kills, on the other hand, would have been much
more difficult, hut would have given a higher meat yield. Initially, early
hominids may not have been very efficient at the task, but over a period
of time they would have become increasingly adept, eventually reaching
optimum efficiency. For optimum efficiency, the smallest possible groups of
hominids that could effectively deal with large predators such as lions, may
have formed, so that several such groups could cover as large as possible
an area.
To sum up. scavenging may have been an important and distinct adaptation
in hominid evolution. At a time when hominids were only capable of occa
sionally killing and defending their own prey, they may have relied mostly
on scavenging to obtain meat, skin and other substances from carcasses
(Shipman, 19H6). The development of scavenging which has been traced in
this section involved significant cultural adaptations. While it may have been
an important adaptation in its own right, in the sense that scavenging con
stituted the most reliable method of meat acquisition during a major period
of hominid evolution, it may have been instrumental in making possible the
transition from predation to hunting.
Hunting
Hunting may he defined as the killing of highly mobile prey with the
use of weapons, traps, vehicles or domesticated animals. In contrast with
predation, hunting involves cultural adaptations that give the hunters an
advantage over their prey.
The transition from predation to hunting possibly occurred when ho
minids started to throw stones, sticks and clubs to knock down or stun
small mammals and birds, thereby increasing their chances of catching the
prey. Clubs and pointed sticks used as spears may also have enabled them
occasionally to dispatch larger animals that would have been impossible
to kill with their bare hands or teeth. Butchering of large animals would
have required stone tools to cut through tough hides, so it is unlikely that
hominids hunted large animals before they had effective cutting tools.
In all probability, stones, throwing clubs or even the first crude spears
would not have been effective enough as missiles to bring down large
animals at, or even near, the place where they were attacked. Indeed as ho
minids adapted to bipedalism they would have lost some speed, becoming
less able to catch prey with short, fast charges. They would, however, have
gained endurance and become better adapted for persistence hunting.
In persistence hunting the hunter never allows the animal to rest, keeping
it constantly on the move until it is exhausted and can easily be killed with
clubs or spears. Hunters would concentrate on young animals or animals
weakened by injury, illness, hunger or thirst. Since animals cannot tolerate
the midday heat, this is usually the best time to run them down. The evolu
tion of the distinctively human sweating apparatus and relative hairlessness
would have given hunters an additional advantage by keeping their bodies
cool in the midday heat.
In relatively open terrain it may have been possible for hominids to chase
an animal persistently without losing sight of it. Several hominids may have
co-operated in a relay-race, as wild dogs and baboons have been observed
to do. As the animal flees, it tends to run in a wide circle. Such behaviour
would have enabled trailing hunters to cut across the arc and take over
from the hunter previously chasing the animal.
In woody country or uneven terrain where visibility is limited, the animal
would soon run out of sight of the hunters. In such circumstances tracking
would have been essential, with the success of the hunt dependent on the
nature of the terrain and the tracking abilities of the hominids.
Without the use of missile weapons or the ability to track down animals,
early hominids would probably not have been very effective persistence
hunters. Persistence hunting requires a high energy expenditure for a low
success rate, so even early representatives of the genus Homo may have
resorted to this method only occasionally. Using a simple spear as a missile
weapon, hominids no doubt increased their chances of running down an
animal by stalking and wounding it.
In relatively open terrain, where tracking may not have been necessary. it
would have been very difficult for hunters to stalk an animal closely enough
to wound it fatally with a hand-thrown spear. Recent hunter-gatherers have
shown that it is possible to stalk an animal in open terrain and bring it within
the range of a spear-thrower or a bow and arrow. With a hand-thrown spear
this would have been much more difficult, although not impossible. Hunting
in small groups may have improved the chances of wounding the animal,
but at the same time the risk of being detected while stalking would have
increased. The optimum size of such a group would therefore have been
determined by the advantage of the increased chances of a hit, against the
disadvantage of the increased chances of being detected. The success rate
of stalking animals in open terrain with hand-thrown spears may have been
very low.
The majority of animals brought down by recent hunter-gatherers were
not killed upon initial contact, but were usually wounded, stunned or im
mobilised so that they were incapable of rapid or prolonged flight (Laugh
lin, 1968). We can assume that hominids who did not have spear-throwers
or bows and arrows, were less successful at wounding animals. While a
wounded animal may have been followed by sight in relatively open terrain,
the chances of successfully stalking and wounding it may have been very
small. It may have been much easier to stalk such an animal in woody ter
rain, but since it could have run out of sight, the animal would have had
to he tracked down. We can surmise therefore that hominids were not very
successful at stalking and killing animals with missile weapons before they
were able to track them down. Furthermore, in woodland or uneven ter
rain, where visibility was limited, tracking would also have been important
in locating animals.
In addition to the development of tracking, technological improvements
in missile weapons would have improved the efficiency of stalking and
wounding animals. Hunters could have used fire, for example, to harden
the points of their spears. A spear with a fire-hardened point found at a site
in north Germany indicates that it was in use at least 80 000 years ago (Pfeif
fer, 197R). Spears tipped with stone or bone points would have had even
greater penetration, but a greater improvement would have been the inven
tion of the spear-thrower. Since the radius of the casting arc was lengthened,
the initial velocity was increased, thereby increasing the range of the mis
sile. Spear-throwers (such as those used by the Australian aborigines, for
example) were usually made of wood, so it is not known when these were
first used. The only surviving prehistoric specimens are made of antler or
ivory, and these were made by Upper Palaeolithic Europeans (Coon, 197 1 ).
Without doubt one of the most important inventions in hunting is the
bow and arrow. The bow and arrow is the most versatile hunting weapon,
since a wide range of animals can be hunted with it, and it can also be
used in a wide range of habitats, from open, semi-arid regions to tropical
forests. Even in cold regions where suitable wood was unobtainable, the
Inuit made bows of musk-ox horns (Coon, 1971).
The earliest direct evidence of the bow and arrow has been found in a
10 000-year-old site in Denmark. An assortment of points closely resembling
arrowheads have also been found in Spanish caves, providing indirect ev
idence that the Solutreans, Upper Palaeolithic people whose toolkits first
appeared about 20 000 years ago, may have used the how and arrow. We
do not know, of course, when it was first invented ( Pfeiffer, 1978).
We also do not know when poison was first used. Some recent hunter
gatherers (such as the Ache of Paraguay, South America) hunted with heavy
powerful bows and long, feathered arrows to achieve a range of about 50 m
(Bicchieri, 1972). So it is possible that the first bows were used to shoot on
poisoned arrows. It is also possible that the first bows and arrows might not
have been powerful or accurate enough to deliver a mortal wound with an
unpoisoned arrow. If this was true then the use of poison may have been
discovered before the invention of the bow and arrow. While the invention
of the bow and arrow probably required ingenuity, it is conceivable that
the use of poison may have been based on an accident. Having discovered
a lethal poison, hunters could have tipped their spears with it. thereby in
creasing the chances of mortally wounding an animal. Poison spears have
been used hy the Akoa of the African rain forest. for example, to hunt ele
phants (Coon, 197 1 ). If the use of poison was known. the first bow and
arrow would not have had to be very powerful to be effective. More po\\
erful bows and more accurate feathered arrows may have been developed
later.
Turning from weapon�. we should mention the use of disguises to im
prove the efficiency of stalking animals, particularly in open terrain. Wearing
animal skins and antlers, and carrying a pair of sticks to represent forelegs,
recent hunters have been observed to imitate characteristic postures. move
ments and sounds (see Chapter 5). Using this disguise. hunters could kill
their prey at short range.
Instead of stalking an animal, a hunter could also resort to ambushing.
Recent hunter-gatherers have been known to use blinds at waterholes or salt
licks. Animals usually approach a waterhole from the downwind direction
in order to scent possible danger, and are very wary when they drink. It
would be very difficult for a hunter to get close to such animals. so it
is unlikely that hominids could have had much success from ambushing
before they had effective missile weapons. Even recent hunter-gatherers
such as Australian aborigines were not very successful using this method
(Pfeiffer, 1978). j u; wasi hunters regarded hunting from blinds as not very
effective, and preferred to track down an animal (Lee, 1979).
Many recent hunter-gatherers used lures to draw animals into ambushes.
The Penobscot Indians of Maine would attract the male moose during the
mating season by imitating the amorous call of the cow moose through a
cone of birchbark. An Ainu hunter would use a complicated blowing device
to imitate the cry of a lost fawn in order to attract a doe to within range
of his bow (Coon, 197 1 ) . But even when disguises were used or animals
were ambushed, hunters may only have been able to wound animals. The
hunters would then have had to either run down or follow the wounded
animals.
The next variation of hunting involved the simplest and probably the
earliest form of trapping: the use of natural traps. Many nocturnal animals
lie up in burrows by day. Once an occupied burrow has been found, it does
not require much skill simply to dig the animal out or smoke it out ( see
Chapter 5). An ahilit) to track down fresh spoor may have greatly increased
the efficiency of utilising such natural traps.
Artificial traps can he classified according to the forces used. A trap may
utilise the weight or momentum of the animal itself, the weight of a sus
pended object. or the torsion of a spring. Perching birds could be caught by
smearing a sticky substance, �uch as gum. onto branches. Pit traps would
have concealed surfaces that collapse under the animal's weight. Single
nooses would catch animals by their own momentum, or spring-loaded
nooses would make use of the flexibility of wood and of trigger mecha
nisms. Nooses could .llso he attached to logs balanced in the crotches of
trees, or logs propped up by trigger devices. Deadfalls could be made out
of propped-up slabs of stone or heavy logs that would crush small animals.
Traps would he set along animal trails and converging piles of brush on ei
ther side would lead the animals into it (Coon. 197 1 ) . Fishing also involves
various forms of tr.tpping. In rivers. traps. weirs, baskets and nets t Stew
ard, 1968 > are required, whereas along coasts, intertidal fish traps could be
constmcted (Inskeep. 1978).
What is unkno\vn is the ,mtiquity of trapping. \X'hile natural traps may
have been used opportunistically by early hominids, artificial traps were
possibly a relatively recent development. Although most traps are very sim
ple in design. they are usually rather ingenious devices, so we can imagine
that they could not have been invented before a fairly high level of creative
intelligence evolved. Indeed, most traps may only have been invented af
ter a fully modern intellect developed. The success of trapping (on land)
also depends on the hunter's ability to interpret tracks and signs, so effec
tive trapping may only have been possible after hunters acquired tracking
abilities.
\X"hile persistence hunting. stalking, ambushing and trapping were carried
out by single or small groups of hunters, large groups of hunters could
participate in co-operative hunting methods that would have required some
form of social organisation. Some co-operative hunting methods involved
not only all the members of a band (including women and children), but
also .several allied bands. Perhaps the first forms of co-operative hunting
were opportunistic, involving small groups of hunters who took advantage
of favourable natural conditions. Animals may have been driven into natural
traps such as swamps or lakes. or over cliffs. Hominids who were able to
control fire may have cut off escape routes by burning grass and brush
over large areas. Some of the American Plains Indians, for example, used
to set fire to dry grass downwind of a herd of bison grazing near bluffs
over rivers (Coon, 1971). As the wind carried the fire towards the bluff, the
bison stampeded over the side. The use of fire, however, would have been
limited to occasional opportunistic events in specific localities, since the
vegetation would have had to recover before it could be burnt down again.
In general, then, natural sites for successful co-operative hunts would have
been limited, and opportunities for taking advantage of such sites may only
have been occasional. For this reason co-operative hunting could not have
been a reliable method of hunting before the invention of artificial guided
fences, nets, pitfalls, snares or corrals.
Co-operative mass-killing techniques must have varied considerably in
scope and efficiency, depending on the terrain, habitat, animal population
densities, the habits of the animals involved, the level of technology re
quired and the social organisation of hunter-gatherers. On a small scale it
would involve methods such as the "human surround" or the improvised
construction of a brush fence when conditions permitted. On a large scale
it may have extended to include the use of a more or less permanent corral
several kilometres in circumference with a funnel of wooden posts to guide
the animals into the corral (Spies, 1 979).
Co-operative hunting methods were highly 'ipecialised in the sense that
particular methods were developed for specific environmental conditions
and aimed at particular species. The Efe of the lturi Forest in central Africa,
for example, developed methods specifically for forest conditions. Once a
year all the families of a band would unite for the communal surround,
in which men, women and children spread out in a large circle. Making
as much noise as possible, they would converge on the centre of the cir
cle. Animals milling around the middle would be dispatched by bowmen
(Coon, 1 97 1 ) . Net hunting is also effective in deep jungle (Tanaka, 1980).
In the circumpolar world drift- and drive-fences or poles have been used to
guide animals into traps such as pitfalls, ambushes. snares or corrals. The
larger and more efficient mass-killing techniques were used, for example, in
areas of high caribou population density along migration routes. Such mass
killing methods would, however, not have been effective in areas of more
diverse fauna and a more scattered caribou population. Even in favourable
environments, hunter-gatherers could not have depended on caribou drives
alone, and would have had to rely on other methods of hunting as well.
Strategies may also have varied according to the seasons (Spies, 1979).
The last aids to hunting we need to consider are domesticated animals,
which include dogs, horses and reindeer. The oldest remains considered to
be those of domesticated dogs were found in Idaho, North America, dated
at about 1 1 000 B.P. ; in northern England dating from about 9 500 B.P.; and
in the Middle East dating from about 9 000 B.P. The distance between these
finds suggests that dogs were first domesticated in some unknown place
a long time before these dates, perhaps even before the end of the ice
age. Or dogs could have been domesticated many times in different places.
The domestication of dogs may have its origin in the taming of captured
wolf pups. A wolf pup readily attaches itself to humans who care for it,
substituting them for its own family and pack. Such tame wolves, on the
way to becoming dogs, would have increased the security of the home
base of hunter-gatherers, alerting people to danger and chasing away wild
animals (Leonard, 1 973). Dogs have been used by recent hunter-gatherers
to track down animals and hold them at bay. Hunting with dogs, however,
may have been limited to certain species, and then only to complement
other hunting methods. Specialised uses have been shown among the Inuit,
for example, to detect the breathing holes of seals, and to pull sledges. It is
not known when dogs were first used as hunting aids, but once put to this
purpose, they may have greatly increased the efficiency of hunting.
Carvings of horse-heads engraved with what appear to be rope harnesses
found in France indicate that Upper Palaeolithic people may have either
ridden or used horses for traction about 15 000 years ago. What is more,
evidence provided by patterns of tooth wear indicative of crib-biting, which
is unknown in wild horses, supports the theory that horses may have been
domesticated in France at least 30 000 years ago. It is not known, however,
what these horses were used for (Leakey, 1 98 1 ) . The first domesticated
horses may have been used as a source of food or for transporting heavy
loads, �o it is not known when horses were first used in hunting. But once
mastered, the ability to ride horses would have changed hunting dramat
ically (see, for example, Chapter 5). While hunting from horseback may
well have originated in Europe in Upper Palaeolithic times, it has been
introduced to hunter-gatherers of southern Africa only during the last hun
dred years or so. Domesticated reindeer were used as hunting aids before
reindeer domestication became a self-sustainable livelihood. Small herds of
tame does, for example, were used as decoys for rutting wild bucks.
Domestic reindeer were also used in unique ways of hunting by the
Nganasan living in the Taymyr Peninsula area in Russia. Sledges drawn
by reindeer provided them with fast transport, enabling them to encircle
herds to drive them into lakes or into V-shaped drive corridors. Apart from
sledges drawn by dogs or reindeer, vehicles used for hunting included water
craft such as boats, canoes and kayaks (Spies, 1 979).
In considering the possible evolution of hunting, it seems reasonable to
assume that some of the simpler methods were developed earliest. Since the
first hunters may not have been very successful, hunting may have played a
relatively minor role in subsistence. Universal methods such as persistence
hunting, stalking, ambushing and perhaps trapping may have played a fun
damental role in the evolution of hunting in general. It is also possible that
unknown methods played an important role, since it is conceivable that at
earlier stages of hominid evolution, hunting methods may have been used
that have not been practised by recent hunter-gatherers. As new methods
were developed. hunters would have made use of a variety of methods,
depending on which methods were best suited for particular conditions or
situations. Different methods may have varied according to the seasons, and
specific methods may have heen best for specific animals.
Specialised methods, such as cooperative hunting and the use of domes
ticated animals and vehicles, would not have played a fundamental role
in the evolution of hunting in general and may only have been developed
after more universal hunting methods were well established. Specialised
methods could only he used if more universal methods were available as a
back-up when they failed, so they could not have been relied upon before
universal methods were developed. Since specialised methods were devel
oped for vety specific environmental and social conditions, it is unlikely
that the development of such methods played a significant role in human
evolution in general. An adaptation that was successful in only vety specific
conditions would not have enabled hominids to adapt successfully to other
environmental conditions.
If selective pressures for hunting played a significant role in human evo
lution, it is most likely that universal hunting methods may have been
important adaptations. Only universal methods would have enabled ho
minids to adapt successfully to the wide range of environments that they
inhabited. The success of universal methods such as persistence hunting,
stalking, ambushing and trapping would have depended on two important
factors, namely the tracking abilities of the hunters and the technological
development of weapons and traps.
As far as the origin of hunting is concerned. interpretations of the ar
chaeological record have varied considerably. According to one view. the
Australopithecines had to hunt for their food in the savanna (\X!ashburn
and Moore, 1980). Another view holds that changes in the brain and en
docrines occurred from about two million years ago by which hominids,
such as Homo erectus, became social hunters (Young, 198 1 ; as quoted
in Binford, 1 984). Many older views on the evolution of hunting, how
ever, have been based on assumptions and speculations that are question
able ( Binford, 1981 ).
An example of such a questionable archaeological interpretation is the
set of conclusions drawn from the data of the Torralba site in Spain. An
estimated minimum of 1 1 5 animals, including elephants, horses, cervids.
bovids, rhino, birds, and some carnivores, were recovered from the site.
Some 61 1 tools were also found. This data set has been interpreted as ev
idence of highly organised cooperative hunting, involving large groups of
hunters, perhaps in the order of 100 individuals or more, possibly using fire
to drive animals into a marsh. Yet the animal remains may have accumulated
over a period of several tens of thousands of years. Even if it is assumed
that only 10 000 years are involved, an average of only one animal may
have died evety 87 years. For a normal glacial environment such a death
rate could be attributed to natural causes. Animals such as elephants seek
water when their temperatures go up, so the most common place of death
is in such a marsh-bog setting. Such conditions also favour the preservation
of hones. Furthermore, the accumulation of stone tools may he attributed
to scavenging by hominids, rather than hunting ( Binford, 198 1). This ex
ample shows that archaeological sites that have been interpreted as being
evidence of hunting may well represent the remains of animals that have
been scavenged.
It is still not known with confidence how the earliest stone-tool-using ho
minids acquired animal foods and what the relative contribution of hunting
and/or scavenging was to subsistence activities (Bunn and Blumenschine,
1987) . An analysis of the Middle Stone Age Klasies River Mouth fauna from
the southern Cape of South Africa suggests that larger bovids seem to have
been primarily if not exclusively scavenged, while smaller bovids may have
been hunted ( Blumenschine, 1986) . It has even been suggested that hunting
may not have played an important role in hominid subsistence before the
appearance of a.m. Homo sapiens, and that hunting may only have become
a more important subsistence strategy than scavenging with the appear
ance of behaviourally modern hominids (Binford, 1 984). Scavenging may
well have played an important role in human evolution and it is possible
that hunting only became an important subsistence strategy relatively late
in human evolution.
Hominid Subsistence Adaptation
Both the food requirements of hominid populations and the availability of
food resources would have played an important role in the evolution of
hominid subsistence. Firstly, the food requirements of a population in any
particular area would have been determined mainly by that population's
density. Secondly, the availability of food resources would have depended
on the environment and on the abilities of the hominids to utilise available
food resources. In biological evolution, change may occur for its own sake,
but the direction of change is determined by selective pressures that make
adaptation a necessity. Thus we need to consider the impact of population
pressure and environmentJl pressure on adaptations to hominid subsis
tence.
Among animals, tendencies towards overpopulation play an important
role in evolutionary change. in which intra-specific competition based on
excessive reproduction is the essence of natural selection. Among human
communities, population growth may be considered as a contributing factor
in cultural change. \X1hile a growing density of people may have first led
to territorial expansion and the infiltration of unused ecological zones, it
may have brought about an intensification of economic activity once the
potential for territorial expansion had been exhausted. This would have
entailed the exploitation of new resources and the development of new
technologies needed in the quest for food (Cohen, 1977). For example,
hominids may have turned to edible plant foods that were formerly avoided
because of more palatable or more easily obtainable foods. New methods
of food preparation may also have increased the variety of edible foods.
Concerning environmental pressures. one can see that early hominids in
Africa, for example. would have had to respond to the cyclic alternation he
tween savanna, forest and desert in different ways. They could have reacted
to the shifts in their habitat by migrating along with the vegetation belts.
\X7here this was not possible, they would have had to adapt to new environ
ments by switching their dietary patterns to new resources. They could also
have moved into habitats previously unoccupied by hominid populations,
adopting new and appropriate subsistence strategies (Roberts, 1 984) .
The earliest hominids that moved from a forest to a savanna en\·iron
ment would have had to live on lower-quality plant foods. This would have
required either more extensive foraging to collect larger quantities of plant
foods, or else supplementing with meat a diet consisting m.1inly of vegetable
foods. Meat contains more calories per unit weight than most plant foods,
so the inclusion of more meat into the diet would have formed a consider
able advantage. The high protein content of meat would also have met the
high-quality food requirements demanded by the enlargement of the brain
and body (Foley, 1984b). Furthermore, hominid populations that adapted to
more marginal environments, such as arid or cold regions, would have had
to increase the percentage of meat in their diets as vegetable foods became
sparser. It seems arguable, therefore, that adaptation to marginal environ
ments played an important role in developing more efficient methods of
acquiring meat.
As hominids developed new subsistence strategies in response to selec
tive pressures, emphasis would have shifted to the new strategies while
retaining previous ones. An initial strategy based mainly on foraging plant
food�. supplemented by collecting small animals. casual scavenging and oc
casional predation, may have developed into one of gathering plant foods
and systematic sc.1venging, while retaining foraging, collecting and occa
sional predation as secondary strategies. Even with the development of
hunter-gatherer subsistence, for.1ging, collecting and scavenging would still
have played a role, since hunter-gatherers would have used every Jvailable
strategy to exploit n.1tural resources in the most efficient way. In the shifts of
emphasis from foraging to gathering, from casual to systematic scavenging,
and from predation to hunting, significant cultural adaptations occurred.
In response to selective pressures, hominid populations adapted either
biologically, thereby evolving into new species, or culturally as far as the
abilities of the particular species enabled them to do so. According to the
model of phyletic gradualism, new species arise from the slow and steady
transformation of entire populations. In contrast, the model of punctuated
equilibriJ holds that new species arise very r.1pidly in small. peripher.1lly
isolated local populations, beyond the area of its ancestor�. According to this
model, the history of evolution is one of homeostatic equilibria. disturbed
only "rarely" by rapid and episodic event� of speciation (Eldredge and
Gould, 1972). While such biological adaptation occurs by means of n.Itural
selection of random genetic variations, cultural adaptation occurs as a result
of learned behaviour. Cultural development represents a fundamental shift
in evolutionary levels during which change cdn happen much more r.1pidly.
Nevertheless, biological evolution and cultural evolution may have impacted
one upon the other in a positive feedback relationship ( Gowlett. 1 9H4).
Since the abilities of the earliest hominids to adapt culturally were proba
bly very limited, they would have responded to selective pre�sures probably
with biological adaptation. Larger-brained hominids, who were probably
more intelligent, would have been able to respond partially to selective
pressures with cultural adaptation. They would have adapted biologically
only under pressures that were so severe that they were unable to adapt
culturally. As hominids increasingly relied on cultural adaptations. biolog-
The Evolution of Hominid Subsistence
ical evolution of the brain would have carried greater adaptive advantage
than other aspects of biological fitness. And as hominids became more in
telligent their capacity to adapt culturally would have increased, and the
necessity to adapt biologically would have diminished. So hominid evolu
tion would have involved a decrease in the relative importance of biological
evolution as the relative importance of cultural evolution increased. Above
all, the success of hunter-gatherer subsistence lay in its flexibility and cul
tural adaptability. This permitted a single species, Homo sapiens, to occupy
most of the earth and adapt to a wide range of habitats, from forests and
savannas to deserts and arctic conditions, with a minimum of biological
adaptation (Washburn and Lancaster, 1968).
During the evolution of hominid subsistence, natural selection could only
bring about adaptations that were of immediate survival value. Evolution
does not progress towards some goal in the future. While some earlier adap
tations in hominid evolution may have been instrumental in making later
adaptation possible, earlier adaptations were not made "for" later adapta
tions, but for their own sake. So. for example, adaptations such as gathering
and systematic scavenging may have been instrumental in making the evo
lution of hunting possible, but they did not evolve "so that" hunting could
evolve. Rather, gathering and systematic scavenging were distinct and suc
cessful adaptations in their own right, irrespective of whether hunting would
have evolved later or not. At any stage in hominid evolution, hominids were
successfully adapted to their particular environments.
If hunting only became an important subsistence strategy relatively late in
human evolution, it could not have played a significant role in the enlarge
ment of the hominid brain. And hominids did not evolve large brains "for"
hunting (Gould, 19HO). Rather, an increasingly complex gatherer-scavenger
subsistence involving economic intensification, social organisation. language
and technological developments pos�ibly required increasing levels of in
telligence to deal with the correspondingly larger amounts of information
necessary for surYival.
If a trend towards increased hunting coincided with the appearance of
fully modern humans, however, one could argue that hunting may have
played a significant role in the evolution of the modern intellect. If this were
true, then it seems most likely that the most universal hunting methods were
involved. Many specialised hunting methods may have been developed
only after the appearance of fully modern humans and so would not have
played a role in the evolution of the human intellect. Since the art of
tracking, however, is one of the most fundamental and universal factors
in hunting. the evolution of tracking may have played an important role in
the development of hunting.
3
The Evolution of Tracking
In order to reconstruct how tracking may have evolved, we need to distin
guish between three levels of tracking: simple, systematic and speculative.
Simple tracking may be regarded as following footprints in ideal tracking
conditions where the prints are clear and easy to follow. These conditions
are found, for example, in soft barren substrate or snow. where footprints
are not obscured by vegetation and where there are not many other animal
prints to confuse the tracker. Systematic tracking involves the systematic
gathering of information from sign�. until a detailed indication is built up
of what the animal was doing and where it was going (see Chapter 8). It
is a more refined form of simple tracking, and requires an ability to recog
nise and interpret signs in conditions where footprints are not obvious or
easy to follow. Speculative tracking involves the creation of a working hy
pothesis on the basis of the initial interpretation of signs, a knowledge of
animal behaviour and a knowledge of the terrain. Having built a hypothet
ical reconstruction of the animal's activities in their mind, the trackers then
look for signs where they expect to find them (see Chapter 8).
Simple and systematic tracking are both based essentially on inductive
deductive reasoning (see Chapter 1 1), but systematic tracking in difficult
tracking conditions requires much greater skill to recognise signs and prob
ably a much higher level of intelligence. Tracking conditions may vary
considerably, so that the degree of difficulty may vary gradually from very
easy through to very difficult. One cannot make a clear distinction between
simple and systematic tracking. The difference lies in the degree of skill, and
the skill required for systematic tracking depends on how difficult tracking
conditions are. In contrast to simple and systematic tracking, speculative
tracking is based on hypothetico-deductive reasoning (see Chapter 1 1), and
involves a fundamentally new way of thinking.
The suggestion that tracking, as practised by recent hunter-gatherers in
savanna-woodland conditions, requires above average scientific intellectual
abilities (see Chapter 6), implies that it is unlikely that tracking could have
originated in a savanna-woodland habitat. It is most likely that tracking
evolved in conditions where tracking is easiest. Simple tracking may have
developed into systemdtic tracking in increasingly difficult tracking condi
tions. Speculative tracking may have developed in very difficult tracking
conditions where systematic tracking became inefficient. Modern trackers
practise a combination of systematic and speculative tracking, and the two
types of tracking play complementary roles.
Ideal conditions for simple tracking are found in two extreme types of en
vironment, namely arid environments where the grou nd is sparsely covered
with vegetation, and cold environments where simple tracking is possible
in snow. For this reason it is u nlikely that simple tracking could have been
practised before hominids adapted to these marginal habitats. As hominids
entered more marginal arid or cold environments. vegetable foods would
have been less abundant, and hominids may have had to increase the per
centage of meat in their diets. Marginal areas, however, usually contain
lower animal population densities and decreasing opportunities for scav
enging. Hominids may have had to depend to a greater extent on hunting
for subsistence. But conditions for tracking would have been easier and
the development of tracking would have greatly increased their hunting
success.
In relatively open country with high animal densities, such as savanna
grasslands, hominids may have been able to locate animals by scanning an
area, and then running them down in plain sight. Using weapons to wound
animals would have increased their chances of running them down. \X·here
visibility was limited (owing to hills, dunes or vegetation), .:md with ideal
tracking conditions, hunters could simply have followed the footprints of
animals which had run out of sight. As the animal had already been seen and
associated with the footprints. this represents the simplest form of tracking.
since it does not require any spoor interpretation.
In terrain where visibility was limited with low animal densities, however,
hunters would have had very limited success in locating animals by scan
ning. It would therefore have been necessary to locate animals by means
of simple tracking. In such circumstances. the hunter would have needed
at least to recognise footprints. Further assets would have included a num
ber of skills. Firstly, the ability to determine the direction of travel would
have doubled his chances of success, since he would not have followed the
spoor in the wrong direction. The ability to recognise fresh spoor would
have given the hunter a reasonable chance of overtaking the animal. An
ability to determine the speed of travel, either by the way sand or snow
had been kicked up, or by the relative position of footprints, would have
enabled hunters to concentrate on the spoor of slow-moving animab. Fi
nally, the ability to recognise the spoor of specific animals may have allowed
the hunter to select the spoor of animals that are easiest to run down or
that give the greatest amount of meat.
Tracking in Arid Conditions
One biome in which tracking may have originated is in a relatively barren
semi-desert or desert environment. Here, ideal tracking conditions would be
determined by the substrate, vegetation cover, animal population densities
and weather conditions. It is much easier to track in soft, sandy substrate
1he Evolution of Tracking
than in hard, stony substrate. Spoor may not he well defined in soft sand,
however, so it may he difficult to identify. Lacking definition, it may also be
confused with similar hut older spoor, since the colour differences between
fresh and old spoor in dry, loose sand may be very subtle. The sparseness
of the vegetation cover also determines how easy it is to follow spoor. In
semi-desert or desert environments animal population densities are very
low, leaving fewer proximate signs to confuse the tracker.
Two kinds of weather conditions play an important role in simple tracking.
After wind has obliterated al1 old spoor, it is much easier to follow the spoor
of a particular animal, although that spoor may also be obliterated by the
wind. For simple tracking, ideal weather conditions would he a strong wind
during the night so that all old spoor is obliterated, leaving only fresh spoor
made after the wind has stopped blowing, with no wind blowing while the
hunter follows the spoor. ln practice the wind may vary throughout the day,
sometimes making it easier for the hunter and other times making it more
difficult. A very light wind may also obliterate spoor in exposed areas, such
as the tops or upwind sides of dunes. while footprints in sheltered areas
may be preserved. A tr.1il may therefore be obliterated partially, leaving gaps
where the spoor may he lost.
When rain has obliterated old spoor, fresh spoor are easier to follow.
Footprints in wet sand are also much clearer than in loose dry sand where
footprints may lack definition. It is also much easier to distinguish one set of
spoor from another in wet sand. Footprints remain clear much longer in wet
sand, even after the sand has dried into a crust. In arid environments it does
not rain very often, however, so such opportunities would be limited. After
good rains the ground may he covered more densely with grass. Conditions
for simple tracking would therefore be more difficult in the rainy season than
in the dry season.
A good example of ideal tracking conditions may be found in semi-arid
savanna such as in the southern Kalahari dunelands. These dunelands are
characterised by long, roughly parallel dunes, sparsely covered with grass,
shrubs and scattered trees. There is no natural surface water, and river
beds may contain only occasional pools for a few months, weeks or days.
In most years the rivers are entirely dry. On average about 10 rainstorms
may account for about 150 mm of rainfall each year from February to May
(Bannister and Gordon, 1Y83; Steyn, 1984h). Although there is no surface
water for most of the year, animals obtain their moisture requirements from
plants. The tsamma melon in particular is an important source of water for
animals ( Steyn, 1984b).
The most numerous large animal in the southern Kalahari is the gems
bok. The gemshok prefers to frequent the dunes in the dry season, and
goes down to the watercourses when rain falls. Its large size, relative abun
dance and preference for dunelands may have made the gemsbok one of
the most important animals in the development of tracking in semi-arid en
vironments. The spar�e vegetation cover and soft sand would have provided
ideal tracking conditions. The dunes would have offered limited visibility
for scanning, since a hunter standing on top of a dune would not be able
to see animals in the valleys beyond the nearest dunes, so making tracking
a necessity.
In general, the most likely environment for the development of tracking
would have been an optimum combination of ideal tracking conditions,
abundant wildlife, limited visibility which would have made tracking a ne
cessity, and adequate water resources. If tracking evolved in southern Africa,
then the semi-arid savanna of the southern Kalahari would have been the
most likely place. Other areas in Africa that may have provided similar con
ditions for simple tracking are eastern Africa and the belt of semi-desert
south of the Sahara.
From ideal tracking conditions, one can discover a continuity of increas
ingly difficult tracking conditions. Tracking becomes less easy as the substrate
becomes harder, as the vegetation becomes denser and as the density of
animal populations increases (see Chapter 8).
Since tracking conditions may continuously become more and more dif
ficult, the transition from simple tracking in ideal tracking conditions to
systematic tracking in difficult tracking conditions may have been very grad
ual. Such a gradual transition may, however, have occurred over a very
long time or a very short time, depending on the selective pressures in
volved. Such a continuum of increasingly difficult tracking conditions can
be seen, for example, when the differences among the southern, central and
northern Kalahari are considered. Throughout the Kalahari the substrate is
mainly sand, so the main differences are determined by the steadily increas
ing rainfall from 1 50 mm per year in the southern Kalahari through to more
than 600 mm per year in the northern Kalahari. While the southern Kala
hari dunelands are relatively barren, the central Kalahari is characterised
by open grasslands alternating with patches of bushes and trees or solitary
trees, and the northern Kalahari by savanna-woodland.
While it is easy to follow footprints in barren sand, it becomes increasingly
difficult as the grass becomes denser. In grassland it becomes necessary to
recognise signs of animals in the way the grass is bent over in the direction
of travel. If all other signs have been obliterated by wind or rain. skilled
systematic trackers may be able to follow spoor in gr.1ss at quite a fast rate,
but their progress would be complicated by similar signs of other animals.
As the vegetation becomes denser, systematic tracking becomes less and
less effective. In savanna-woodland, visibility is also limited by the vegeta
tion, so hunters become increasingly dependent on their tracking abilities
to locate animals. In such conditions systematic tracking may not have been
adequate, and speculative tracking may have become a necessity. In wood
land, speculative tracking is also more appropriate, since there is a limited
number of routes that animals can take through dense bushes, allowing
the tracker to anticipate the most likely route taken. Animals are also more
inclined to make use of paths among bushes.
Apart from denser vegetation, harder substrate would also have made
the transition from systematic to systematic/ speculative tracking a necessity.
1he Evolution of Tracking
Only with the development of systematic/speculative tracking may trackers
have had a reasonable success rate in difficult tracking conditions, and
hunter-gatherers have been able to adapt successfully to a wide range of
habitats.
Tracking in snow
Other biomes in which tracking may have originated are taiga and tundra
environments, where �imple tracking may have been practised in snow.
Ideal conditions occur when a thin layer of fine snow - a few centimetres
thick and not too wet - lies on a hard level substrate. Footprints are then
clear, sharp, and easy to distinguish. In loose snow the edges of tracks
usually fall in, obliterating the track. In very thick snow the tracks appear
as deep holes which may be difficult to identify. During a thaw, particularly
when the sun is shining, a track will quickly become enlarged, since its
edges will thaw rapidly (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972).
The taiga is found in the circumpolar world in the sub-arctic dnd north
temperate zone of Europe, Asia and America . Characterised by long, severe
winters with a constant snow cover, the taiga consists of coniferous tree�
such as pine, fir, spruce and hemlock. During the warmer months a thick
layer of needles and dead twigs covers the ground and the presence of this
acidic layer coupled with the shade cast by the mature trees, prevents the
flourishing of undergrowth in the forests. Only scant herb and shrub layers
may be found. Mammals include reindeer, caribou, elk, moose, lynx, snow
shoe hare, wolf, fox, marten, weasel or ermine (Curtis, 1979; Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Vol 7, 1963) .
Where the climate i s too cold and the winters too long for conifers, the
taiga grades into the tundra. The tundra forms a continuous belt across
northern Europe, Asia and North America, from the northern limit of the
taiga to the Polar sea. The tundra is a form of treeless grassland domi
nated by herbaceous plants, such as grasses, sedges, rushes and heather,
with a ground layer of mosses and lichens. The freeze-thaw process of the
permafrost, a layer of permanently frozen subsoil, keeps the plants small
and stunted. Typical mammals include reindeer, caribou, musk ox, ermine,
arctic hare, arctic fox and lemmings (Curtis, 1979; Encyclopaedia Britan
nica, Vol 7. 1963 >.
In taiga and tundra environments, opportunities for simple tracking in
snow would be limited to the long winters. Since simple tracking would not
have been possible during the warmer, snowless months, hunter-gatherers
who were unable to practise systematic/speculative tracking on dry ground
would have had to rely on vegetable foods, scavenging, and hunting meth
ods that do not require tracking. Meat accumulated during the winter months
may also have been dried and stored for the summer months. In the warmer
regions, vegetable foods such as nuts, bulbs, roots, seeds, berries and the
inner bark of willow trees may have been gathered in summer. In the colder
tundra areas, however, gathering would not have played a significant role
in subsistence, since there are scarcely any vegetable foods that can be
consumed by humans. Scavenging and opportunistic hunting may there
fore have played an important role in the summer months. In the taiga
forests hunters may have had limited success in locating animals, since visi
bility would have been limited by the trees, and animals that are faster than
hunters could not have been run down, since they would have quickly run
out of sight. Opportunistic hunting in the taiga during summer may there
fore have been limited to running down fawns, weak or injured animals,
or capturing small animals and animals sleeping in burrows. ln the open
tundra, hunters may have been able to run down animals in summer if they
could always keep them in sight. Locating animals by scanning would also
have been easier in the open tundra. During the summer months, therefore,
hunting may have been easier in the open tundra than in the taiga forests.
During the long cold winters the emphasis mdy have been on tracking
down animals in snow. In the taiga forests, where visibility is limited, animals
could be located by tracking. Following footprints in snow would also have
enabled hunters to run down animals in forests. The cover provided by trees
would have made it easier to stalk and wound animals, so hunting in winter
may have been easier in forests than in open tundra. In the open tundra.
animals located by scanning could be run down, and on occasions when
hunters lost sight of animals, they could simply follow their footprints. In
hilly tundra country, visibility may have been limited, so tracking in snow
may also have been necessary to locate animals.
In the intergradation between the taiga and tundra biomes, some hunter
gatherers may have been able to take advantage of both types of environ
ments, depending on which provided the. best conditions for hunting at
different times of the year. During the summer, when there is no snow,
persistence hunting may have been easier in the open tundra. In the winter,
on the other hand, hunting may have been easier in the taiga forests. It
would therefore have been advantageous for nomadic hunter-gatherers to
live in the forests during the winter and on the open tundra during the
summer. The Lebenstedt site in Germany, for example, indicates that the
Neanderthals who lived there occupied the open tundra only during the
warmer summer months, and probably retreated into the forest during the
winter (Constable, 1973).
Even for recent hunter-gatherers of the northern taiga forests, hunting
was best in winter (Coon, 1971). Animals move slowly on account of the
snow. This means that locating them by tracking is easier, since they are
easier to overtake. Running them down in snow is also easier. Recent hunter
gatherers have been known to run down reindeer over long distances in the
spring when the snowcrust conditions make reindeer movement difficult.
Hunters wearing snowshoes also trailed animals in heavy snow until they
were exhausted (Spies, 1979). The invention of the snowshoe may have
played an important role in making hunting in snow more efficient. It is not
known when the snowshoe was invented. It may be assumed, however, that
hunter-gatherers who inhabited cold regions had clothing, including shoes,
to protect them against the cold. It would not require much intelligence
to discover that it is easier to walk in deep snow wearing bigger shoes.
Hominids that were intelligent enough to invent clothing and shoes were
probably also intelligent enough to invent some form of snowshoe.
1'\vr\ �
J(o o o o 0
�
animal tracks
.c.
1
wind direction
I
I
I
Semicircular tracking in snow
A special way of hunting moose in snow was used, for example, by the
Kutchin of North America . The hunter knew that the animal followed a cer
tain vegetation zone. feeding in the early morning and late afternoon, and
resting at midday. Before stopping to feed or lie down, the moose would
double back on its trail on the downwind side, so that it could smell any per
son or predator following it. Instead of simply following the trail, the hunter
would walk in a series of loops downwind of the trail, until he overshot
it. He would then walk hack in smaller loops, still downwind, and being
careful not to make any noise, until he got to within bowshot (Coon, 1971).
In taiga and tundra conditions the transition from simple tracking in snow
to systematic and systenutic/speculative tracking on dry ground would have
been much more abrupt than such a transition in arid conditions, since the
same continuity of tracking conditions does not exist. Moving from ideal
tracking conditions in snow to tracking on dry ground would have been
very difficult, since there would have been no intermediate conditions.
From simple trc1cking in snow during winter, hunter-gatherers living in
taiga forests may have developed systematic tracking in the thick layer
of pine needles that covered the ground in the summer. At first glance,
tracking in pine needles appears to be very difficult. Where an animal is
moving slowly on a level surface, for example, no clear footprints may be
perceptible. When the animal moves faster or on a slope, however, its hoofs
may slip on the pine needles, pushing the pine needles forward. Where the
pine needles have been pushed forward, the fresh spoor is visible as a
dark hollow as the darker coloured needles underneath the surface needles
are exposed, and hy the shade of the hollow itself. Sometimes, when the
needles are removed, a clear footprint may be revealed in the sand below
the needles. Tracking is easiest when the animal has been running in a thick
layer of needles, as its feet dig into the needles and leave hollows that are
easily recognised. This may have enabled skilled systematic trackers to run
down animals. When moving from one locality to another, animals usually
use paths. In these paths, the ground is often exposed in patches, where
spoor can easily be identified. Paths may therefore have enabled systematic
trackers to locate animals in forests. If hunters were able to develop a high
level of skill in systematic tracking, they may have developed systematic/
speculative tracking in more difficult tracking conditions.
Hunters who had been practising simple tracking in snow on the open
tundra, may have been able to develop systematic tracking in grasslands
during the summer. Tracking conditions may have varied considerably de
pending on the vegetation. Systematic tracking is, for example, relatively
easy in long, straight grass, but very difficult in short, curly grass. If hunters
were able to develop systematic tracking in grassland, they may have devel
oped systematic/speculative tracking in more difficult tracking conditions,
such as light woodlands to increasingly dense woodland vegetation.
It is also possible that the transition from simple tracking in snow to
systematic/speculative tracking on dry ground may have been too abrupt.
Hunters who had been practising simple tracking during the long, severe
taiga and tundra winters may not have been able to develop systematic
speculative tracking during the summers. If so, then tracking may well have
evolved in arid conditions, rather than cold conditions. Both possibilities,
however, are plausible.
The Origin of Tracking
Simple tracking could not have been developed before hominids adapted
to marginal arid or cold environments. It is therefore unlikely that early
hominids developed the art of tracking. Some Homo erectus populations
which inhabited marginal habitats. may have; had the opportunity to develop
simple tracking. They may have had limited success, however, and even if
the opportunity to develop simple tracking arm.e, they did not necessarily
develop systematic or systematic/speculative tracking.
It is very likely that some archaic Homo sapiens populations, which in
habited marginal arid or cold regions. developed at least simple tracking.
It is also possible that they may have developed some degree of skill in
systematic tracking. Some may have become dependent on simple or sim
ple/systematic tracking for their survival, so that a change to more difficult
tracking conditions may have provided strong selective pressure for the
transition from simple/systematic tracking to systematic/speculative track
ing. For selective pressures for speculative tracking to have been strong
enough for the transition to occur, systematic tracking in difficult tracking
conditions could not have been efficient enough for survival. A low success
rate of systematic tracking may have supplemented simple tracking in ideal
conditions. In difficult tracking conditions, systematic/speculative tracking
may have become a necessity for survival.
Ideal tracking conditions and subsequent changes to difficult tracking con
ditions may have been caused by climatic changes. During the last glacial
maximum, most low-latitude regions were relatively dry. The rainfall de
creased, so that what had been savanna country dried up into near-desert.
The semi-arid fringe areas around many deserts expanded. The rain forests
of the tropics were reduced to isolated refugia, and some parts where
there were forests, became active sand deserts. The conditions known for
the last glacial maximum may tentatively be used as a model for previ
ous glacial maxima for which conditions are not known (Constable, 1973;
Roberts, 1984). In Europe the boreal, mixed deciduous and Mediterranean
woodlands were reduced to isolated southern refugia during glacial stages,
and replaced by steppic and tundra-like associations. In East Asia the forest
belts were displaced southwards (Roberts, 1 984).
During glacial maxima ideal tracking conditions may have existed in both
the more extensive arid low-latitude regions and the cold high-latitude re
gions. During the warmer interglacials, the arid low-latitude regions may
have been reduced, forcing hunter-gatherers to adapt to higher rainfall
conditions. A change from semi-desert conditions to savanna grassland
and woodland conditions may have been instrumental in the development
of simple tracking into systematic/speculative tracking. In the cold high
latitude regions, the warmer interglacials would have been characterised
by shorter winters and longer summers. As the winters became shorter.
simple tracking in snow would have been possible for shorter periods, so
that hunter-gatherers may have become increasingly dependent on system
atic and systematic/speculative tracking. At the same time the open tundra
would have been replaced hy forest and woodland. resulting in increased
dependence on tracking.
In order to consider the possible archaeological recognition of the evo
lution of tracking, one must first examine the archaeological distinction of
scavenging and hunting. The much more rapid and thorough consumption
by initial consumers of young as compared to adult individuals, results in
the predominant availability of adults to scavengers. Furthermore, only the
young of particularly large species are likely to survive initial consumption
frequently enough to he a component of a scavenger diet. A scavenger
will also rarely encounter edible tissues remaining on carcasses of small
species and, owing to the greater abundance of medium-sized adults over
larger species. will derive the most regular scavenging opportunities from
medium-sized adult carcasses. Archaeological faunal assemblages accumu
lated through scavenging should therefore be characterised by a predom
inance of adults over younger individuals, with most young being those
of large species, and a predominance of medium-sized adul� and larger
carcasses over those of smaller carcasses (Blumenschine, 1986a).
The sequence in which carcass parts are consumed by modern non
human carnivores may also form the basis for distinguishing archaeological
assemblages accumulated though hunting or scavenging. This sequence
proceeds from the hindquarter flesh, to the rib-cage and forequarter flesh,
to the head flesh, to the hind limb marrow, to the forelimb marrow, and
lastly, to the head contents. Bone assemblages accumulated by scaveng
ing should therefore be increasingly represented by skeletal parts that are
eaten from by initial consumers in progressively later stages of the con
sumption sequence. Assemblages accumulated by hunting should show a
more complete series of body parts, and particularly one biased towards
those higher yielding parts that are typically consumed in the earlier stages
of the sequence (Blumenschine, 1986b).
Another characteristic of bone assemblages accumulated through scav
enging relates to the skeletal distribution of defleshing cut marks inflicted
by hominids using stone tools. A high proportion of cut marks should occur
on head and lower limb bones, with increasingly lower frequencies being
found on parts defleshed progressively earlier in the consumption sequence.
Smaller species should also be represented by a greater predominance of
latterly consumed skeletal parts, and displaying defleshing cut marks on a
more limited series of body parts than larger species (Blumenschine, 1986a).
If the art of tracking originated in arid conditions and developed in
savanna grassland and woodland, then this may be indicated in the ar
chaeological record by the species of animals hunted. Simple tracking may
be represented by species adapted to arid conditions, such as gemsbok, red
hartebeest and springbok. Systematic tracking may be represented mainly by
grassland species in areas where the substrate is soft. Systematic/speculative
tracking may be represented by grassland species together with woodland
species. Speculative tracking may therefore be indicated by the inclusion
of woodland species, such as kudu, that may not have been hunted by
means of systematic tracking. Systematic/speculative tracking may also be
indicated by hunting in areas of hard substrate where systematic tracking
may have been too difficult.
It has been suggested that faunal remains from Klasies River Mouth Caves
indicate that during the Middle Stone Age the exploitation of cover-loving,
medium-sized animals was part of a scavenging strategy, whereas the ex
ploitation of grassland antelope was a component of a hunting strategy.
Towards the end of the Middle Stone Age there was a trend towards in
creased hunting and a more marginal role for scavenging. During the Late
Stone Age there was an increase in the hunting and/or trapping of cover
loving animals (Binford, 1984). If this interpretation is correct it is possible
that the increase in hunting of grassland species may represent the devel
opment of systematic tracking during the Middle Stone Age in southern
Africa, while the increase in hunting of cover-loving animals may indicate
the development of systematic/speculative tracking in the Late Stone Age.
If the art of tracking originated in cold environments, then simple tracking
may be indicated in the archaeological record by the remains of animals
hunted in winter, while animals were mainly scavenged in summer. The
transition to systematic/speculative tracking may be indicated by an increase
in hunting and a decrease in the relative importance of scavenging during
summer. It is possible that tracking may have originated in both arid and
1be Evolution of Tracking
cold environments, and that systematic/speculative tracking may have de
veloped independently in different regions through parallel evolution. The
environments to which the various populations adapted were so different,
however, and the possible genetic solutions to problems of adaptation so
numerous, that it would have been extremely unlikely that the same genetic
results would be reached independently (Bodmer and Cavalli-Sforza, 1 976).
It is also possible that simple tracking may have been developed in both
arid and cold environments, but that the transition to systematic/speculative
tracking may have occurred in only one of the two alternatives.
If the transition from simple tracking in snow to systematic/speculative
tracking on dry ground was too abrupt, then hunters in cold environments
may not have been able to adapt to warmer conditions. The Neanderthals,
for example, may have been successful hunters in the cold winters, while
relying on plant foods and scavenging in the summers. While food from
hunting may have been relatively abundant during the long winters, the
short summers may have been lean periods supplemented only by dried
meats. The extremely cold conditions in Europe were interrupted by a
sudden climatic change, reaching a thermal maximum between about 44 000
and 42 000 B.P. when summer temperatures were higher than that of the
present day (Scott, 1984). This may have contributed to the decline in the
Neanderthal population. They may not have been able to adapt to tracking
on dry ground during the long summers, and only small pockets may have
survived in cold regions. In the warmer areas where they may only have
survived in small populations, systematic/speculative trackers from Africa
may have replaced them. The Neanderthals were adapted to cold conditions,
and the distinctiveness of early a.m. Homo sapiens limb proportions may
suggest gene flow or population movement from warmer environments at
the transition to a.m. Homo sapiens in Eurasia (Stringer, 1 984). It is therefore
possible that systematic/speculative trackers may have evolved in Africa,
rather than Eurasia.
It has been argued that simple tracking may perhaps have been practised
by some Homo erectus populations and most likely by at least some archaic
Homo sapiens populations. By the time a.m. Homo sapiens appeared, it
is possible that some hunters were highly skilled systematic trackers. The
suggestion that modern tracking, as practised by recent hunter-gatherers,
requires above average scientific intellectual abilities also implies that it is
unlikely that such abilities developed before the evolution of the modern
intellect. Once the modern brain evolved, hunters would have had the
potential to develop modern tracking. Modern tracking may have been
developed only some time after the modern brain evolved. If hunters were
already practising simple and/or systematic tracking, it would be surprising
if they did not develop speculative tracking as soon as they had the ability.
If speculative tracking developed at the same time that the modern brain
evolved, then selective pressures for modern tracking may have been at
least partially responsible for the evolution of the modern brain.
4
The Origin of Science and Art
It seems unlikely that the modern human brain evolved before the appear
ance of a.m. Homo sapiens and although a modern brain may have evolved
with the appearance of a.m. Homo sapiens, a modern cranium does not
necessarily imply a modern intellect. Indeed, the modern intellect may only
have evolved some time after a.m. Homo sapiens appeared. Modern track
ing had prohahly not heen developed before the evolution of the modern
intellect. Although this development may have occurred later, evidence for
the existence of a modern intellect may indicate that the potential for de
veloping modern tracking was also present.
To discover the earliest evidence of tracking we must examine the animal
footprints depicted in prehistoric cave art. One useful example is an early
Magdalenian painting in the cave of El Castillo, north-west Spain, depicting
bell-shaped figures in reddish-brown paint (see illustration opposite this
page, after Marshack, 1972; Prideaux, 1973). These figures (which have been
interpreted by Andre Leroi-Gourhan as stylised female sex organs), closely
resemble ungulate hoofprints in soft substrate (see illustration A on page 42).
The points at the hack of the footprints reproduce the impression created
by the dew claws when the animal's feet sink into soft mud or snow. The
forefeet are usually larger than the hind feet, and in soft substrate the forefeet
appear also more splayed than the hind. The lines down the middle of the
middle and lower right footprints may indicate that they are more splayed
than the other two. If this is so, the middle footprint would represent that
of the left forefoot, and the lower right footprint that of the right forefoot.
The extreme left footprint would then represent that of the left hind foot,
and the uppermost footprint that of the right hind foot. Taken as a whole
this track group closely resembles that of a jumping animal (see illustration
B on page 42, <:lfter Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972). The footfall sequence is
first the right fore followed by the left fore, and then the left hind followed
by the right hind. For large, heavy animals jumping is a very exhausting
method of locomotion and almost only used in very soft substrate, such as
soft mud or deep snow, or to clear obstacles (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1 972).
What the reddish-brown colour of the figures suggests is that they may
represent footprints in soft mud or wet sand, rather than snow.
What is remarkable about thi::, painting is the artist's attention to detail
and his/her ability to provide a meaningful interpretation of spoor. If the
JJ
'
I
RF
dew claws
a
A.
Hoofprint in soft substrate
B.
Jumping gait
AH
b
figures do indeed represent footprints in soft mud rdther than snow, we
can surmise that the artist-hunter did not merely practbe simple tracking
but was capable at least of systematic tracking, dnd possibly speculative
tracking. The jumping gait in soft substrate may have a special significance:
hunters may perhaps have driven animals into soft mud to exhaust them.
That the hunter was an artist is surely indicative that s/he possessed a
creative imagination and may have had the intellectual abilities to be a
modern systematic/ speculative tracker.
From the evidence of Upper Palaeolithic art it would appear that the
intellectual abilities used in art were far higher than those required for
subsistence. An indication of advanced intellectual abilities is also given
by evidence of notation, such as notches grouped according to the pha:,es
of the lunar cycle. According to Darwinian theory, species evolve in order to
become more successful in their adaptive strategy. This rdises the question
of what would have been the adaptive value of art if it apparently required
an intellect far higher than was necessary for subsistence (Marshack, 1972;
Marshack, as quoted in Lewin, 1979). I would suggest that the apparent
paradox may be resolved if it can be shown that art played an important
role in subsistence and therefore had adaptive value. Furthermore, it needs
to be shown that the intellectual abilities evident from Upper Palaeolithic
art were necessary for survival.
Prehistoric art has been variously interpreted as a medium of hunting
magic, or as part of sacred rituals or initiation ceremonies Paintings have
1be Origin of Science and Art
abo been interpreted a:s symbolising male and female images, reflecting a
fundamental division in the world, or as representing social relations within
bands and between them. Since there are many possibilities, the true sym
bolic meaning of prehistoric art, if any, may never be known (Leakey, 1981).
If we consider the very nature of creativity, it is unlikely that a single
explanation can account for all the reasons why art was practised. Rather,
art was probably used in many ways and developed for a multitude of
reasons. Indeed, one can argue that the adaptive value of art may well
reside in the fact that the aesthetic pleasure derived from it is not merely a
function of the transmission of useful information. The aesthetic pleasure has
a quality which makes people enjoy it repeatedly. Information is therefore
not related in a manner that would be dull and boring. The adaptive value
of art can hest he illustrated by the role storytelling plays in hunter-gatherer
subsistence.
Hunter-gatherers share their knowledge and experience with each other
in storytelling around the campfire. Although this seems to involve relatively
little direct transmission of information or formal teaching, much knowledge
is gained indirect�v in a relaxed social context. Hunter-gatherers take great
delight in lengthy, detailed and very gripping narrations of events they have
experienced. with non-verbal expression used to dramatise their stories.
Artistic expression is involved in relating events in an entertaining way,
thereby ensuring a continuous flow of information. Storytelling in this way
acts as a medium for the shared group knowledge of a band ( Blurton Jones
and Kanner, 1976; Biesele, 1983; see Chapter 6).
The art of storytelling is enjoyed by all individuals irrespective of whether
potentially useful information may or may not be of use to anyone sub
sequently. For �orne individuals a particular story may be enjoyed even if
the information transmitted is of no use to them. For other individuals a
story may incidentally have potential usefulness, since some of the infor
mation transmitted may he useful at a later stage when the listeners find
themselves in circumstances similar to that experienced by the storyteller.
Storytelling therefore owes its effectiveness as a medium for the shared
group knowledge to the fact that it provides aesthetic pleasure irrespective
of whether or not the information transmitted may be useful.
Not only may art have played some role in transmitting scientific informa
tion in hunter-gatherer societies, there also seems to be a correspondence
between the intellectual processes involved in science and in art.
The aesthetic appreciation in art combines an element of empathy. When
one contemplates a work of art, one projects oneself into the form of the
work of art, and one's feelings are determined by what is found there
(Read, 1968). In the process one may in a sense identify with the artist
(Fry, 1920). Empathy in art, I would argue, corresponds to the element of
anthropomorphism in science and in particular in the art of tracking (see
Chapter 1 1). If this correspondence indicates a fundamental similarity in the
creative processes in both science and art, then archaeological records of
art may provide indirect evidence of the scientific abilities of prehistoric
humans.
Indications of an anthropomorphic way of thinking are also found in
Upper Palaeolithic art. Some figures, for example, appear to he half-human,
half-animal. Although these figures may simply depict hunters wearing an
imal disguises, it is conceivable that the artists may have attached some
symbolic significance to it. Perhaps such depictions symbolise the way track
ers identified themselves with their quarry.
Turning to the possible origins of science, it is necessary to distinguish
between knowledge based on inductive-deductive reasoning and creative
science based on hypothetico-deductive reasoning (see Chapter 1 1). In
hunter-gatherer subsistence, the two most important domJ.ins of natural
science are those of plant life and animal life.
Gathering plant foods requires much knowledge, hut involves little skill
once specimens are located, because the immobility of plants reduces the
number of variables involved (Silberbauer, 1981). Although a great amount
of knowledge is required for gathering plant foods, it is relatively easy
to learn and to apply. Hunter-gatherers themselves regard gathering as
a monotonous activity (Marshall, 1976b). The transition from foraging to
gathering probably involved mainly sociological and to a lesser extent, tech
nological, adaptations. It may not have required a fundamental change in
the nature of the knowledge of plants.
Knowledge of edible plants may be gained by means of a trial-and
error accumulation of knowledge based on inductive-deductive reasoning.
Knowledge acquired in this way can then be passed on from one generJ.tion
to the next. Food-gathering does not require imaginative theories to explain
plant life or to predict novel facts based on hypothetico-deductive reason
ing. It is not possible for a food-gatherer to predict, for exJ.mple, whether
an unknown plant is edible or not, or which plants can be expected in un
known plant communities. Predictions as to where to look for plant foods
are based on experience, and are therefore essentially inductive-deductive.
While plant life is relatively static, animal life is dynamic, involving a mul
titude of variables that are continuously changing. Animals are not only
highly mobile, living in complex communities, but are also capable of ac
tively avoiding hunters. Apart from involving knowledge based on direct
observation of animal behaviour, both simple and systematic tracking also
involve knowledge founded on the recognition of signs J.nd the associa
tion of particular signs with specific animals and their observed behaviour.
Since such knowledge is derived from direct observation and association,
it is essentially based on inductive-deductive reasoning. The reasoning pro
cesses involved in simple and systematic tracking probably do not differ
fundamentally from those used by predators who track down their quarry
by following a scent trail. The main difference is that, while other predators
rely on their sense of smell to follow scent, human simple/systematic track
ers must rely mainly on sight to detect signs that are often very complex
and sparse. The greater complexity of signs may require more extensive
1he Origin of Science and Art
knowledge to interpret, but the mental processes involved may well be the
same.
The transition from simple/systematic to modern systematic/speculative
tracking, however, may have involved a fundamentally new way of thinking.
Apart from information based on direct observations and recognition of
signs, speculative tracking also requires the interpretation of signs in terms of
creative hypotheses. The modern tracker creates imaginative reconstructions
to explain what the animals were doing, and on this basis makes novel pre
dictions in unique circumstances. Speculative tracking involves a continuous
process of conjecture and refutation to deal with complex, dynamic, ever
changing variables. Modern tracking not only requires inductive-deductive
reasoning, but also creative hypothetico-deductive reasoning.
As far as written records are concerned, the critical or rationalist tradition
of science can be traced back to the early Greek philosophic schools. Char
acteristic features of the scientific attitude are freedom of thought, critical
debate and rational discussion. Thales, the founder of the Ionian school,
seems to have created the tradition that one ought to tolerate criticism.
Historically, the Ionian school was the first in which pupils criticised their
masters, in one generation after the other (Popper, 1963). The critical attitude
of contemporary Kalahari Desert trackers, and the role of critical discussion
in tracking (see Chapter 6), suggest, however, that the rationalist tradition
of science may well hJ.ve been practised by hunter-gatherers long before
the Greek philosophic schools were founded.
It was once a�sumed not only that rational science originated with the
Greek philosophic schools, but that the belief systems of prehistoric hunter
gatherers were dominated hy superstitions and irrational beliefs. Hunter
gatherers were believed to have acted on the basis of exceedingly limited
information, much of that information being wrong (see, for example, Pop
per, 1963; Washburn, 1978). These assumptions led to an apparent paradox
in understanding human evolution: the brain evolved both in size and in
neurological complexity over some millions of years. A fully modern brain
had evolved at a time when all humans were hunter-gatherers. Yet the same
brain that has been J.dapted for the needs of hunter-gatherer subsistence,
today deals with the �ubtleties of modern mathematics and physics (Wash
burn, 1978).
This apparent paradox may he resolved if it is assumed that at least some
of the first fully modern• hunter-gatherers were capable of a scientific ap
proach, and that the intellectual requirements of modern• science were, at
least among the most intelligent members of hunter-gatherer bands, a neces
sity for the survival of modern• hunter-gatherer societies. The first creative
science, practised by possibly some of the earliest members of a.m. Homo
sapiens who had modern• intellects, may have been the art of tracking. In•
With ··modern hunter-gatherers·· and "modern intellects", the term "modern" is used in the
archaeological sense of the word. With "modern science" and "modern physics" the term
"modern" refers to science and physics practised in the twentieth century.
deed, the art of tracking is a science that requires fundamentally the same
intellectual abilities as modern* physics (see Chapter 1 1 ). Since mathemat
ics, which may be regarded as quasi-empirical, involves essentially the same
intellectual processes as science (Lakatos, 1978b), the intellectual require
ments of tracking are therefore also those that are required for mathematics.
In this view, tracking represents science in its most basic form. As a
collective research programme of a relatively small number of interacting
individuals (see Chapter 1 1), the art of tracking would not have been as
sophisticated as the accumulated corpus of modern physics, since modern
physics is the result of the collective efforts of a large number of some of
the world's best intellects and has been developed over a long period of
time. Yet the human brain has probably not changed significantly since the
appearance of modern hunter-gatherers: some trackers in the past probably
were, and perhaps today are, just as ingenious as the most ingenious modern
mathematicians and physicists.
For a hunter-gatherer population to have survived, it would not have
been necessary for all hunters to be good trackers ( see Chapter 6). As long
as about half the hunters were reasonably good trackers, of which some
were excellent trackers, the population as a whole would have survived.
A very small percentage of trackers may have had the scientific ingenuity
equivalent to that of the best of modern scientists. Thts small percentage
of excellent trackers would have made a significant contribution to the
collective re�earch programmes of the communities as a whole, in the same
way that a small percentage of modern scientists makes the most valuable
contribution to modern science (see Chapter 1 1).
In principle, there is no limit to the degree of sophistication to which a par
ticularly ingenious individual could develop the art of tracking. In practice,
however, the tracker's knowledge is limited by his her own observations of
nature and the information transmitted through oral tradition. In contrast the
modern scientist has relatively easy access to a greater body of knowledge
available in libraries, uses sophisticated instruments to make highly accurate
observations, or computers to make complex calculations, and participates
in scientific research programmes that involve the collective effons of large
numbers of scientists who individually specialise in different fields of study.
I would argue that the differences between the art of tracking and mod
ern science are mainly technological and sociological. Fundamentally they
involve the same reasoning processes and reqmre the same intellectual abili
ties. The modern scientist may know much more than the tracker. but he/she
does not necessarily understand nature any better than the intelligent hunter
gatherer. What the expert tracker lacks in quantity of knowledge (compared
to the modern scientist), he/she may well make up for in subtlety and re
finement. The intelligent hunter-gatherer may he just as rational in his/her
understanding of nature as the intelligent modern scientist. Conversely, the
intelligent modern scientist may be just as irrational as the intelligent hunter
gatherer. One of the paradoxes of progress is that, contrary to expectation,
The Origin of Science and Art
the growth of our knowledge about nature has not made it easier to reach
rational decisions (Stent, 1 978).
Perhaps one of the most important intellectual abilities that made the
evolution of science and art possible is creativity. Science and art are, how
ever, not the only creative aspects of human culture. As we shall see in the
next section, the entire lives of hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari Desert were
steeped in creative thinking.
Love, for example, is also a creative activity (Fromm, 1957), and plays
a fundamental role in social relations. A characteristic feature of hunter
gatherer societies was the egalitarian sharing of food (see Chapter 5). What
was perhaps most significant was that hunters and gatherers did not all
contribute the same amount of food. The best hunters contributed much
more meat than the poorest hunters (see Chapter 6). Furthermore, women
provided more plant foods than men provided meat, except in the higher
latitudes (see Chapter 5). This means that the better hunters contributed
more meat than they expected to receive in return, while women provided
more plant food than the me:tt they expected to receive in return, especially
the women who were married to the less successful hunters. For egalitarian
sharing ro have been possible, the most successful hunters and gatherers had
to have the capacity to give more than they expected to receive in return.
The active character of love is primarily giving, not receiving (Fromm, 1957).
Love was therefore a necessity in hunter-gatherer subsistence, and may well
have originated with the evolution of hunter-gatherer societies.
Furthermore, art not only played an important role in relation to sci
ence, but also in relation to social cooperation. Folklore, rock paintings and
other expressive forms were integral parts of the communication systems
of hunter-gatherers. The visual and verbal arts, which made information
exchange both routine and enjoyable, provided the framework for survival
information. The tales and pictures codified positive attitudes towards so
cial arrangements upon which the survival of hunter-gatherer societies de
pended ( Biesele, 1983 ).
In hunter-gatherer societies there were no clear-cut demarcations between
science, art, folklore, myths, religion or social relationships, since all aspects
of their culture were integrated into a holistic understanding of nature. The
various aspects of their culture were intertwined with one another in a way
that made them inseparable. This is in contrast to industrialised societies, in
which various <tspects of culture are separated into distinct institutions. At
universities, for example, students study science, art. literature, sociology or
religion in separate departments which have very little to do with each other.
And once they are qualified, they follow careers which tend to separate them
even more from other disciplines.
Although one can trace the origins of various aspects of modern indus
trialised cultures to possibly the first modern hunter-gatherer societies, the
original context within which they evolved was probably fundamentally dif
ferent from their contemporary context. Furthermore, recent hunter-gatherer
societies may have differed in fundamental ways from the first modern
hunter-gatherer societies and even more so from hunter-gatherer societies
that may perhaps have existed before the evolution of modern humans.
As a result of the hunter-gatherer adaptation, the human mind evolved
the abilities to develop a complex language, to socialise, to love, to practise
religion, to invent technology and to create science and art. Of the many
complex abilities of the human intellect, it is possible that the development
of the art of tracking played a significant role in the evolution of the scientific
faculty. In this view, creative science (in the form of modern tracking ) may
have originated at the same time, or soon after the appearance of a.m. Homo
sapiens. Alternatively creative science may have originated just before or at
the same time as the appearance of art. Significantly the earliest evidence
of tracking lies in the form of footprints in prehistoric art.
Hunter-Gatherers of the Kalahari
5
Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence
In order to place the art of tracking among the Kalahari hunter-gatherers
in its traditional context, it is necessary to look at hunter-gatherer subsis
tence in recent times. Hunter-gatherers were not isolated, static. unchanging
societies, but experienced continuous cultural change just as other tribes,
chiefdoms and nations did (Wilmsen. 1983). Over the course of centuries,
hunter-gatherer bands in different regions developed a wide diversity of
material and non-material cultures. In time, some aspects of their culture,
such as language, religious beliefs and even their economy, underwent so
many changes that hunter-gatherers of southern Africa can not be said to
have had an homogeneous culture ( Bredekamp, 1 986).
About 2 000 years ago some of the hunter-gatherers of southern Africa
began to make contact with Khoikhoi pastoralists. The Khoikhoi, who prob
ably developed from Khoisan hunter-gatherer societies in southern Africa,
were mainly dependent on a pastoral economy, but were also hunters and
food-gatherers. When livestock were depleted by disasters such as drought,
disease or theft, Khoikhoi herders reverted to hunting and gathering. Some
hunter-gatherers. on the other hand, adopted pastoral economies. A com
plex process of interaction, intermarriage, acculturation and assimilation
occurred over centuries between hunter-gatherers and migrating Khoikhoi
herders. Hunter-gatherers were therefore not isolated from the influences
of pastoralists ( Bredekamp, 1986) .
Early Iron Age agropastoralist economies were active i n southern Africa,
including the Kalahari, for at least the past millennium, and cultural in
teraction. such as trade networks, would have influenced hunter-gatherers
(Wilmsen, 1983). So. for example, iron replaced bone as the primary mate
rial for arrowheads and spearheads.
Initially some hunter-gatherers were absorbed by new cultures. As pres
sures increased, however, the incompatibility of large scale agropastoralism
with hunter-gathering economies caused conflict. With the arrival of Eu
ropean settlers at the Cape, conflict became frequent. The use of firearms
not only resulted in the depletion of the larger animals, thereby destroying
hunter-gatherers' means of subsistence, but also resulted in the virtual ex
termination of hunter-gatherers in large regions of southern Africa in a war
which continued for almost two centuries (Willcox, 1978).
In different regions of southern Africa hunter-gatherers have experienced
varying degrees of acculturation, depending on the extent of their con
tact with other cultures. In the semi-arid regions of the Kalahari, where
pastoralism or agriculture were, until recently, not viable, hunter-gatherers
experienced relatively little acculturation untii a few decades ago. Recently.
at a time when they were still primarily dependent on hunting and gathering
for their subsistence, Kalahari hunter-gatherers obtained blankets, clothing
and cooking utensils from neighbouring pastoralists.
Hunter-gatherer subsistence in the Kalahari discussed in this chapter is
based on anthropological fieldwork over a period starting in the 1950's
and extending to the 1970's. My own fieldwork, conducted in 1985, was
limited to a study of the hunting and tracking practised hy two groups of
!Xo hunter-gatherers who still hunt on a regular basis. During the past two
decades change has been rapid, particularly due to the influx of pastoralists
into their territories. and the close-knit, self-sufficient organisation of band
society is gone (Silberbauer. 1981). Although some hunter-gatherers still
practise their traditional religion and attitudes to the environment, all have
been acculturated to some extent (Campbell, pers. comm. 198)).
Hunting and gathering economies had a local character in that hunter
gatherers adapted themselves quite differently to the different ecological
areas of the Kalahari. Ecological adaptation involved specialised knowledge
about a given area, and hunter-gatherers who felt secure in their knowledge
of their home territory, may not have been able to find food in unknown
territory (Biesele, 197 1). Hunter-gatherers were opportunists who used the
fluctuations in their habitat to their own best advantage. In order to take
such advantage, they had to plan their moves, keeping the widest possible
range of options open so that they could switch from one course of action
to another (Silberbauer, 1981). In the central Kalahari the optimum size of
permanent groups of hunter-gatherers was between '50 and 70. In the rainy
season food was plentiful enough to support a large group. hut in the dry
season a /Gwi band had to split up into its constituent nuclear families
(Silherbauer, 1965).
For the Ju/wasi of the Dobe area the distribution of water sources was
the most important ecological determinant of their subsistence. During the
rainy season they lived at temporary pools in the midst of nut forests. Only
the most palatable and abundant foods that were the least distance from
water were collected. As time went on they had to travel further and further
to collect food. They usually occupied a camp for a period of weeks or
months and ate their way out of it. During the dry season. groups were
based at the permanent waterholes. They would eat out an increasing radius
of desirable foods, and as the water-food distance increased, the subsistence
effort increased. People either walked longer distances for desirable food
or had to be content to eat less desirable foods (Lee, 1969).
Contrary to popular belief the hunter-gathering way of life was not a
constant struggle, maintained in the face of adversity, and ending in early
death. Specialised knowledge and social co-operation ensured that hunter-
Ju/wasi
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Distribution of language groups in Botswana/Namibia (after Tanaka, 1 980;
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gatherer subsistence was reliable and based on known resources. Adult
Ju/wasi were able to make a living for the whole band by working on
average, two to three days a week. Some days people worked hard, other
days they did not work, and some individuals worked more than others.
Since the northern Kalahari is marginal habitat, hunter-gatherers in the past
( who could have inhabited much more attractive environments) would have
had an even more substantial subsistence base (Lee, 1969).
Food gatherers went out in two's and three's and each woman gathered
plant foods on her own. A knowledge of the composition of plant com
munities was used to narrow the search for individual species. Gatherers
needed to know their location and their season of availability and had to
have the ability to recognise useful species. They avoided stripping an area
of a species, leaving a residue so that regeneration was not imperilled.
Locally scarce specimens were not exploited even when these were found
while gathering other species. While gathering was mainly done by women,
men returning from unsuccessful hunts usually gathered food on their way
home (Silberbauer, 1981).
In the Dobe area food resources were varied and abundant. 85 plant
species and 54 animal species were classified by the Ju/wasi as edible
(Lee, 1969). Only 10 species of mammals, however, were regularly hunted
for food. Plant foods constituted the greatest component of the diet, while
meat constituted a third or less, depending on the time of the year and the
fortunes of the hunters (Lee, 1969; Silberbauer, 1981).
In the southern Kalahari hunting may have played a more importdnt suh
'iistence role than in the central and northern Kalahari (Steyn, 1984a). In the
central Kalahari, where pools of rainwater are found for only six to eight
weeks of the year, plant foods were also the main source of fluids (Silber
hauer, 1981 ).
For the Ju 'wasi of the Dobe area, it was found that their food input
exceed�d the energy requirements by about 165 calories per person per day,
which indicates that they did not lead a substandard existence on the edge
of starvation as has been commonly supposed. These observations were
made during the second year of a severe drought, which seriously dislocated
pastoralists and farmers, while the foraging economy of the hunter-gatherers
was not seriously affected (Lee, 1969).
Individual ownership was limited to an individual's clothing, a man's
weapons and implements and a woman's household goods. As they moved
their villages frequently and as all goods had to be carried by the family
owning them, non-essential material goods were not accumulated. The hand
territory and all its assets were not owned individually but communally,
by the whole band (Silberbauer, 1965). Generalised reciprocity, which was
the norm within local groups, ensured that if there was any food within
the band, it was shared out equally by its owner. Meat was shared with all
members, including those who never contributed any, along definite lines of
sharing. This assured that the owner of the meat would be repaid in kind at
a future date when he himself came home empty handed. Thus the resource
of sharing was in itself an invaluable asset in a risky environment like the
Kalahari (Biesele, 1971). Rains can be so patchy and uneven in the Kalahari
that in a given year, while some parts may have normal rainfall, other parts
may get no rainfall. In times of food shortages a band could move over to the
territory of an allied band. The system of band alliances therefore provided
an effective insurance against starvation in lean times (Silberbauer, 1965).
Hunting
In the Kalahari hunting requires great effort and in energy returns, is a
less rewarding activity than gathering vegetable foods, which provide the
major part of the diet. Nevertheless, the hunt holds a central place in the
community and camp life. In storytelling around the campfire at night men
give graphic descriptions of hunts of the recent and distant past. Further
more, animal products may provide essential nutrients that may be lacking
in the vegetable diet, and overall provide about 40 per cent of the calo
ries (Lee, 1979).
While hunting is an important activity in hunter-gatherer subsistence,
successful hunters, who may naturally be pleased with themselves, are
expected to show humility and gentleness. To the Ju/wasi, for example,
announcing a kill is a sign of arrogance and is strongly discouraged. Many
good hunters also do no hunting at all for weeks or months at a time. After
a run of successful hunts a hunter will stop hunting in order to give other
men the chance to reciprocate. A hunter's success might be appreciated up
to a point, but too much success might draw the envy and resentment of
others. One of the contradictions in the communal life of hunter-gatherers
is the pressure on the one hand to prove oneself by hunting and to be gen
erous, and the counterpressure on the other against being too successful.
To solve this problem, bursts of active hunting are alternated by periods of
inactivity 'to cool their hearts and make them gentle'' (Lee, 1979).
Wild animals are shy and alert. Because of the limitations of their weapons,
hunters require a profound knowledge of the behaviour of animals and their
environment as well as an outstanding ability to track and stalk. Much of
this knowledge can be taught, but the ability to use it can only be gained by
long practice and experience (Silberbauer, 1 965). To find animals requires
all the information on their movements which can be gained from others'
observations and the hunter's own interpretation of signs. Women, when out
gathering vegetable food, watch for animals and their spoor and report what
they have seen when they return to the village. Hunters will spend many
hours discussing the habits and movements of animals. Magical information
based on divination and dreams may also be used to decide whether to
hunt and may give the hunter a feeling of confidence (Lee, 1979). On the
basis of information available the hunter decides on a rough strategy for the
hunt.
Hunters set out singly or in small hunting parties of two to four men
although women have been known to hunt (Heinz, 1978b). It is more
advantageous for small parties to search for animals in different directions
than for hunters to form larger parties. With more small parties a larger area
can be covered, thereby improving the chances of success. Hunting parties
are formed freely and voluntarily, and are always changing. Although no
one is in command, an informal leadership may develop and parties tend to
form around certain good hunters. Hunting parties do not compete against
each other, but rather complement one another, and if any party brings in
a big animal, the meat will he shared (Marshall, 1976a).
Hunters move at a brisk pace, scanning the ground for signs of animals.
Tracks encountered are commented on by means of gesture, indicating the
direction and speed of movement, as well as the distance the animal is
estimated to have covered since making the tracks. Flicking of the fingers
indicates a very fresh trail, and also that the animal may he nearby. Fresh
spoor may also he discussed in soft whispers. Taking care not to betray their
presence. they will carefully scout the land. sometimes climbing into trees
to gain a better view. The hunter's knowledge of the terrain and animal
behaviour, enables him to look for animals where they will most likely be
found.
Equipment
hunter carries a leather hunting bag, slung over his left shoulder His bow
may he run through slits in the straps of the bag, while loops and a small
sheath attached to the bag hold the spear. His poison arrows are carried in
a bark quiver sewn into the bag. In the bag he carries a knife, club, snares,
a carrying net and a smaller quiver containing a repair kit of spare parts
of arrows, lengths of prepared sinew for repairing bowstrings or bindings,
gum for fixing bindings and a small supply of poison cocoons. He may also
carry with him a spring-hare probe.
The bow is about one metre long and two centimetres in diameter in the
middle and tapered to points at both ends. Several woods may he used,
but a straight stick of Grewia jlava is usually chosen. It is strengthened
with sinew bindings for approximately 10 em at both ends and at the grip,
which is set slightly below the middle. The bowstring is made from the
sinews taken from the back muscle of eland or the long sinews from the
legs of big animals, especially giraffe. A short stick or strip of thick leather
is hound about 10 em from the one end. The bowstring is looped around
the other end of the bow, led between the stick and bow-stave, wound
around several times and fastened with a loop. To tighten the bowstring the
windings are twisted and pushed against the stick, which pinches the string
to keep it from slipping
When not in use the string is slackened so that the bow retains its spring
for as long as possible and so that the string does not break if it shrinks
when wet. The string also stretches with use. To stop it from splitting as it
dries, the bow is treated with fat, while the string is treated similarly to keep
it supple. When tightened, the correct tension of the string is determined
by its musical pitch. Although an arrow can he shot beyond 100 m, the
effective accurate range is limited to about 25 m.
The arrow, which is about 50 to 60 em long, consists of four parts:
namely the head, sleeve, link-shaft and main shaft. The head may be simple,
unbarbed, tapered points made of bone, wood or a porcupine quill, or a
barbed point made of metal. Before metal was obtained by trade, barbed
points were made of bone. The simple points are used for birds and small
animals. and are usually not poisoned, while poisoned barbed points are
used for large animals. The sleeve, a short section of reed bound with sinew
to prevent it from bursting, fits over the shaft of the arrowhead and over
the forward point of the link-shaft. The link-shaft is about 5 em long and
tapered to a point at both ends. One end of the link-shaft is smeared with
glue and fitted into the sleeve, which is also glued onto the shaft of the
arrowhead. A yellow gum from an acacia tree is used as glue. The other
end of the link-shaft is inserted into the main reed shdft without glue.
The connection with the main shaft is firm enough to hold the arrow
together in flight, but once the arrow is shot into the animal it will give way
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so that the arrow will not be pulled out as the animal runs through the hush
or nibs against a tree or tries to pull it out with its teeth. The poisoned point
remains embedded in the animal, giving the poison time to work. The main
shaft is made of reed and bound with sinew at the ends. At the hack end
there is a wooden plug which is notched to receive the bowstring.
To prepare the arrow for poison, the shaft of the arrowhead is wound with
sinew which is glued down, since the poison adheres better to the sinew
than to the bare shaft. The poison is applied to the shaft of the arrowhead,
behind the barbs. To prevent accidents, no poison is dpplied to the tip itself
and the arroVv s are carried with the heads downwards in the quiver.
A wide variety of poisons have been used in various parts of southern
Africa. Some were derived from plants, such as the root of a plant in the
asparagus family or the pod of a tree called !gaozl'a (Marshall, 1976a >. Poi
sons were also obtained from snakes such as the puffadder (Bitis arietans),
horned adder (Bitis cauda/is or Bitis cornuta) and especially the Cape cobra
(Naja nivea) as well as scorpions and spiders (Steyn, 1984a).
The poison mainly used by the Ju/wasi, /Gwi and !Xo comes from the lar
vae of beetles of the Chrysomelidae family and their parasites. One species
of Po(vclada, which feeds on Sclerocarya ca.ffra trees. and tvvo species
of Diamphidia, which feed on the tvvo species of Commiphora trees, are
u�ed. Their larvae are parasitised by the larvae of a host-specific Lebistina
beetle belonging to the family Carabidae. The cocoons are found about
50 to 1 00 em below the surface of the ground under the tree they feed
on (Skaife, 1953). Poison larvae are handled with great care. The poi
son is deadly if it enters the bloodstream through scrdtches or cracks on
the hunter's hands, and can blind a person if it gets into the eyes (Mar
shall, 1976a) . After poisoning their arrows they wash their hands vety care
fully. Although highly toxic, it may be taken orally without ill effects (Sil
berbauer, 1981).
The poison usually takes 6 to 24 hours or more to kill an animal (Lee, 1979).
Some animals, such as giraffe and wildebeest, are more resistant to the ef
fects of the poison than are kudu, gemsbok or eland (Silberbauer, 1965).
Small animals usually die sooner than larger ones. If the animal is shot in the
heart it will die rapidly, while a larger animal wounded in a fleshy part may
not die for two or three days (Marshall, 1976a). I have seen a wildebeest,
shot with two well-aimed arrows from about 25 m, drop to the ground im
mediately. Apparently fresh poison also works quicker than old, dehydrated
poison.
Natural traps
Several species are killed below the ground in their burrows, or driven
from their burrows and killed as they emerge. Animals such as anthears,
porcupines and spring-hares are nocturnal and lie up in burrows by day.
Hunters examine recently excavated burrows to see if they are occupied.
Occupied burrows may also be located by following fresh spoor. Animals
like anthears may travel up to 30 km in a night (Smithers, 1983), so ·the
spoor would have had to be made just before sunrise when the animal
was returning to its burrow. The hunter may block off the entrance and
dig down to the trapped animal from above. Smoke may also he used to
drive the animal from the burrow so that the animal may he killed at close
quarters. Animals such as the pangolin, porcupine, caracal, African wild cat
and brown hyaena may be driven out by smoke. Some animals, such as the
jackal, hat-eared fox and honey badger cannot be driven out with smoke,
while the antbear seals off the fire by blocking the burrow with sand, -,o
that it must be dug out. To catch ground squirrels or suricates, the entrance
of a burrow is covered with sand and a half-closnl hand is pushed into the
loose sand. The hunter waits until an animal digs open the hole, then seize:,
it behind the neck (Steyn, 19R--Ia).
Because spring-hares seldom feed further than 400 m from their burrows
(Smithers, l983). occupied burrows can be located by following up fresh
tracks. Tracking spring-hare is not easy, since the tracks are several metres
apart and do not follow a straight course. In order to anticipate the distance
and direction of the next set of tracks, the tracker must interpret the depth
and angle of the imprint. together with the direction in which sand has
been thrown (Wannenburgh, 1979). When an occupied warren is located,
a spring-hare is caught with a barbed probe which is 4 to 5 m long. The
barb is a sharp-pointed steenhok horn bound to one end of the probe. The
probe is pushed into the burrow and thrust and pulled until the barb hooks
into the spring-hare. The position of the impaled animal is indicated by
the length of probe down the hole, and the hunter digs down from above
it (Silberbauer, 1981).
Artificial traps and snares
Snaring is used by young boys and older men. Young boys gain experience
in studying animal behaviour from the feedback of successful and unsuc
cessful snaring. Old men use their knowledge and experience, while the
demands on their eyesight or physical fitness is minimal (Lee, 1979). The
snare consists of a rope, which is spring-loaded by a springy sapling, with
a noose and trigger on the ground. When the trigger is released the sapling
springs back to tighten the noose.
Success in snaring depends on the hunter's ability to interpret fresh tracks
and predict and influence an animal's movements and actions. Snares for
steenbok and duiker are set across their paths or in breaks in unobtrusive
barriers which have been erected to guide the animals onto the snare.
For birds such as guineafowls, francolins, korhaans or bustards, the noose
is pegged out around the bait. For each species a specific bait is used,
depending on the bird's preference, and the snares are set in their favoured
feeding grounds or close to their nests. For ostriches, dehydrated bones are
used as bait, using large bones to attract their attention and a small bone
set in the trigger mechanism. The snare is set up under a tree bearing their
favourite pods.
In earlier times pit traps were also dug (Steyn, 1984a). These were dug
in animal paths and covered with grass. A rock painting depicts the use
of barriers designed to direct the animals along a route where pit traps
had been dug (Woodhouse. 1984). An animal falling into the pit would be
impaled on gemsbok horns or sharpened and fire-hardened sticks. Pit-traps
were effectively used to trap hippopotamuses when they came out of the
water at night to graze. Their habit of using characteristic paths made them
very vulnerable to trapping.
Ambush
When hunting from a blind at a waterhole or salt lick, the hunter waits for
the prey to come to him. This method was not often used in the Kalahari.
as mobile hunting and tracking were much more effective (Lee, 1979).
Co-operative hunts
Several hunters may co-operate to drive animals into an ambush. In the past,
animals such as springbok were driven towards waiting hunters. Ostrich
feather brushes or wands were planted in the ground. When driven towards
the line of brushes the animals were diverted past the waiting hunters who
positioned themselves to shoot the passing buck (Bleek and Lloyd, 1911).
A group of hunters may also co-operate to drive animals into natural
or artificial traps. ln mountainous regions animals were sometimes driven
over cliffs to their deaths. Rock paintings in the Drakensberg depict hunting
scenes showing eland being driven over a cliff (Woodhouse, 1984). A rock
painting in the southern Cape showing a vertical string of buck, nose to tail,
may illustrate animals driven over a cliff. It appears that the leading animal
is about to crash onto a rock (Willcox, 1984).
Rock paintings in the western Cape have been interpreted as illustrating
that net hunting may have been practised in mountainous regions. Nets may
have been strung out across narrow kloofs, into which antelope were then
driven and caughr (Manhire, Parkington and Yates, 1985).
Persistence hunting
Occasionally, small animals may be knocked down with a throwing club
and finished off at close quarters, or if the animal is stunned and tak�s
off, it may be run down. Large birds may also be knocked down with
throwing clubs. The young of small mammal species are frequently run
down on foot and caught by hand (Lee, 1979). Slow-moving animals, such
as antbears and porcupines, are easily run down when encountered in
open country (Silberbauer, 1981). Animals such as eland, kudu, gemsbok,
hartebeest, duiker, steenbok, cheetah, caracal and African wild cat may be
run down in the hotter part of the day and killed when they are exhausted.
The animal is stalked and startled to make it run while the hunter follows
at a steady pace. This process is repeated until the animal is exhausted and
can be finished off with a spear or club (Steyn, 198Lta).
!Xo hunters at Lone Tree Borehole, for example, use this method, and
concentrate on different species at different times of the year. Steenbok,
duiker and gemsbok are run down in the rainy season, because the wet
sand forces open their hoofs, thereby stiffening the joints. Kudu, eland and
red hartebeest are run down in the dry season. because they tire more easily
on loose sand.
In the early summer, before the rains break, animals are poorly nourished.
If a ruminant is prevented from chewing its cud on the chase, it develops
indigestion which eventually slows it down. This enables the hunters to
come close enough to kill it with spears (Heinz, 1 978b).
In woodland, where visibility is limited by the vegetation, the animals
may run out of sight and hunters must track them down before they have a
chance to get enough rest. When running down a herd of kudu, for example,
trackers will look to either side of the trail to see if one of the animals has
broken away from the rest of the herd. They will then follow the animal that
broke away. When it starts to tire, the weakest animal usually breaks away
from the herd, to hide in the bush, while the others continue to flee. (Since
a predator will probably follow the scent of the herd, the stronger animals
have a better chance of outrunning it, while the weaker animals have a
chance to escape unnoticed from where they have hidden themselves.)
The success of this method depends on how quickly the animal can be
tracked down. The most important factors are the hunter's tracking abilities
and how difficult, or easy, the terrain is for tracking. In the immediate vicinity
of Lone Tree Borehole the grass has been heavily overgrazed by cattle and
the ground is quite barren, so it is relatively easy to follow spoor in the
sand. The woodland, on the other hand, is still adequately vegetated for
browsers like kudu. Further away from the borehole, where the ground is
less barren, it becomes more difficult to track down animals quickly, while
in areas where the ground is hard it would be very difficult to track fast
enough to exhaust the animals. In difficult terrain the chances of success
are slender unless the animal is weakened by injury, illness, or hunger and
thirst.
Hunting with bow and poison arrou'
Although it is very difficult to hunt with bow and arrow, it is the most ver
satile method, since most species, from steenbok to giraffe, can be hunted
with it. In some areas of the Kalahari, especially after drought years, animals
are so sparse that hunters may search for days before seeing an animal or
finding spoor fresh enough to be worth following. In relatively open terrain,
hunters may be able to spot animals from quite far, but in woodland, hunters
cannot see very far, so they are completely dependent on their tracking abil
ities to locate animals.
When fresh spoor is found, hunters will estimate its age and how fast
the animal was moving to decide whether it is worth following up. In thick
bush, where there may be no clear footprints, or on hard ground, where
only scuff marks may be evident, trackers may not be able to identify the
animal. When this happens they will have to follow the trail, looking for
signs such as disturbed vegetation and scuff marks, until clear footprints are
found. They will reconstruct what the animal was doing and predict where
it was going.
While following up a fresh lead, hunters will readily abandon it for a
better lead, such as the spoor of another animal superimposed on top of
the spoor they are following. Signs that the animal was resting may imply
that the trail leaving the resting place may be considerably fresher than the
trail leading to it. An animal's favoured feeding ground may be indicated by
spoor of the same animal from preceding days. Ideally, the quarry should
be feeding and moving slowly, so that it is easier for the hunters to catch
up from behind.
While feeding antelope may walk a zigzag route from one bush to another,
they generally move into the wind. To save time, trackers do not follow the
zigzag course of the spoor, but anticipate its general direction by following
a straight course, leaving the spoor at times to pick it up further ahead. If
several trackers work together as a team. they may spread out so that if one
tracker loses the spoor where the animal has suddenly changed direction,
another tracker will pick it up and continue. When the spoor is very fresh,
all the hunters must he on the down-wind side of the trail, and while one
hunter concentrates on tracking, the others will look out for the animal.
Using their knowledge of an animal's feeding preferences. hunters will look
under trees and bushes where the animal will most likely be feeding. If the
wind direction is not favourable, the hunters may have to predict where the
animal may he and leave the spoor to approach it from below the wind.
When a herd i� sighted, the behaviour of the whole herd is studied. It
is important to note whether the animals are wary or nervous, or relaxed
and therefore more likely to remain where they are. The position of sentry
animals are noted. Herds generally move upwind, so the foremost animals
are likely to scent danger from ahead, while the hindmost animals on the
downwind side are nearly always wary and difficult to approach. An animal
is selected for its size, but other factors are also important. A lame, but
not lean, animal will not run as far as a healthy one would after being
wounded. Temperament and "personality'' are also taken into account when
assessing how far an animal is likely to run before succumbing to the
poison (Silberbauer, 1965; 1981).
Whether bulls or cows are easier to hunt depends on the species and the
time of the year. Kudu and gemsbok bulls are more alert when they are in
mixed herds before the cows calve, and therefore more difficult to shoot,
hut cows run further than hulls when wounded. A hartebeest cow, on the
other hand, may only run a short distance when wounded. If the hunters
remain undetected, it may stop and stand for a while, giving the hunters a
chance to have a second shot (Silberbauer, 1981).
Stalking their quarry from below the wind, hunters first advance crouch
ing, making use of the available cover. In open grassland the hunters must
approach the animal in full sight. This is done by making themselves re
semble animals, leaning over with their backs almost parallel to the ground
and their arms close to their sides (Marshall, 1976a).
In the past, disgubes were also used to facilitate stalking. For example, a
hunter would use a male ostrich skin with feathers on and a piece of wood
for the head and neck, while imitating the "roaring'' of a male ostrich. As he
approached the ostriches. a male ostrich would charge to chase away the in
truder, at which it would be shot with an arrow at close range (Steyn, 1984a ).
Hunters also use skin disguises to stimulate curiosity behaviour. Curiosity
behaviour is characterised by an animal standing motionless, looking to
wards an advancing or unusual object. In some situations the animal may
actually approJch the object of attention while maintaining a fixed stare in
its direction (Thackeray, 1983 ).
Hunters do not necessarily have to remain invisible to he unnoticed,
as prey animals are apparently only able to recognise humans and other
potential dangers by their scent and/or movement and not by their shapes,
sizes or colours (Silherbauer, 1981 ). As the hunter moves forward he watches
the animal for any sign of alarm, especially in the movement of its ears.
When it raises its head or turns in his direction, he freezes, holding perfectly
still until it turns away or drops its head again, at which he moves forward
again (Lee, 1979). As the hunters get closer they may sink to all fours. and
when very close, wriggle forward on their elbows, to get within the shooting
range of about 25 m.
Two hunters may stalk together so that there is a better chance of at least
one hitting the target, or if hoth hit the target, to increase the amount of
poison injected. Alternatively, a second hunter may position himself along
the animal's probable escape route to shoot it as it runs by. After their first
shots, they try to remain unnoticed, for there might be another opportunity
to shoot, or if they do not startle the herd, the wounded animal may remain
close by.
When the animal has been shot, the hunters study its tracks for future
recognition. If it was in a stampeding herd, its spoor may be mingled with
others and trampled on. Apart from the characteristics of the individual
animal's spoor, it may also be distinguished by the fact that the wounded
animal will not walk in the same way as healthy animals do. Blood spoor
may also be evident. The arrows are retrieved and accounted for to confirm
whether the animal was wounded or not. If all the arrows are found, it was
not hit, but if one or more are missing, it may be wounded. If the main shaft
of an arrow is found next to the animal's spoor, it may have a deep wound
with the detachable arrowhead inside it. The whole arrow may he found
intact if it has been worked out of the wound by muscular contraction, but
if little poison is left on the fore shaft, most of the poison may already have
been absorbed and it may still kill the animal (Lee, 1979).
After making initial observations, the hunters start to follow the spoor to
study it in more detail. The animal's speed and direction are determined. as
well as its strength, and whether it shows signs of weakening. Blood spoor
may indicate how seriously it is wounded, and whether it will die or recover.
Signs of the animal milling around and stamping its feet indicate that it is
agitated, which is an early symptom of poisoning. Bursts of panic-stricken
running will tire the animal, and the poison will work faster through the
system. Well-advanced poisoning is indicated by black blood or blood in
the faeces, which will also have a peculiar smell. It is estimated how far the
animal will go and when and where it will collapse. Because the poison
works slowly at first, only an approximate estimate can he made, hut as the
animal grows weaker better estimates are possible. The hunters also look
for signs of large carnivores in the vicinity, as they may scavenge most of
the meat before the hunters reach it (Lee, 1979).
If it is still early in the day, the hunters will continue to follow the spoor,
but not too closely, for if they startle the animal it will nm faster and further.
They stay well back, out of sight and hearing, relying on their interpretation
of the spoor. They must, however, follow it closely enough to prevent
predators from killing and devouring the weakened animal hefore they do
(Marshall. 1976a: Silberbauer. 1981 ). If it is late in the afternoon, the men
may camp on the trail and resume tracking at first light. If they are close to
their village, however. they may spend the night at home and return with
helpers in the morning. Although a well-placed shot may kill the animal
immediately, the poison usually takes six to 24 hours to work, and may
sometimes take up to three days (Lee, 1979; Marshall, 1976a).
Until the animal has been killed, the hunters abstain from food or drink.
as they believe it will strengthen the wounded animal (Silberbauer, 1981;
Lee, 1979). If the hunt takes very long, they may take some water, at the
risk of giving the animal some strength. When I asked some hunters what
the most important factor is for successful tracking, they answered that they
track hest when they are hungry. Perhaps a tracker becomes sluggish when
he has eaten too much, giving the animal a better chance to escape and
thereby creating the impression that the animal has gained strength.
In the morning the hunters pick up the trail and must try to find the
animal before predators or scavengers have stolen the meat. Dogs may be
used to track down the wounded animal, hut usually hunters do the tracking
themselves. When it is clear from the spoor that the animal is very weak,
they close in and spear or club it to death. If the animal has died during the
night, predators or scavengers may have beaten the hunters to the kill site.
Circling vultures may indicate where the animal has died, and if the hunters
hurry over to the place marked by the descending vultures. they may still
salvage some of the meat.
When hunters find a pride of lions at the carcass, they first study them
carefully to determine how hungry they are. If the lions have just started
eating, they will not easily he driven off. On the other hand, if they are full
and lazy, they may be reluctant to move. Choosing the right psychological
moment, the hunters rush at them, shouting and waving their arms to drive
the lions off the kill (Silberhauer, 1965; Lee, 1979).
Meat robbing
Lions are sometimes used as a source of meat by robbing their prey. When
hunters observe d. large number of circling vultures, they run to the point and
drive off the predators. Apart from the above-mentioned technique, grass
fires may also be used to drive off predators (Silberbauer, 1965; Tanaka, 1980;
Steyn, 1984a).
Hunting with dogs
It is not known when dogs were first used for hunting by hunter-gatherers
of the Kalahari, but the first Europeans to encounter them reported the
practice, and some rock paintings depict dogs in association with humans
(Tanaka, 1980). In the southern Kalahari the gemsbok has been the most im
portant species because of its size, its occurrence in fair numbers and the rel
ative ease with which it could be hunted with the aid of dogs (Steyn, 1984a).
Modern hunters of Ngwatle Pan, for example, only hunt with dogs. although
they have hunted with bow and arrow in the past.
Hunting with dogs is much more efficient and easier than without dog�,
but is limited mainly to gemsbok and small animals like the bat-eared fox.
Unlike most antelopes, which flee from dogs, the gemsbok will usually
stand and fight. This enables the hunter to kill it while the dogs hold it at
bay. It is usually killed with spears, but poison arrows may also be used.
While wildebeest, hartebee�t, eland and springbok usually flee from dogs,
females with young calves can be hunted with dogs, because the mother
will stand to defend her calf. Smaller animals like the bat-eared fox are often
run down by dogs. but the meat yield is small. In a.reas where gemsbok are
not abundant. hunting with dogs is a complementary method, and more
emphasis may be placed on hunting with bow and arrow.
Dogs are only capable of killing relatively small animals by themselves.
Since dogs do not instinctively hunt antelope the size of gemsbok, they
must be taught to do so. The feet of gemsbok are boiled in water, which is
then given to the dogs to drink, so that they learn to associate the scent of
gemsbok with food. Young dogs also learn from experienced dogs when
they accompany them on hunts.
Even when hunting with dogs, hunters must have a thorough under
standing of tr..tcking, animal behaviour and the environment. On the basis
of sp't>or interpretation of animal movements of previous days, the hunters
will direct the dogs to bring them within range of the animals. Dogs usually
only react to scent and sounds in their immediate vicinity. On their own
they are only successful at running down small animals like the bat-eared
fox which have been flushed out in front of them. Generally dogs give
chase to anything that moves, even springbok that they could never catch.
To successfully locate and hunt gemsbok over long distances, the hunters
must therefore direct the dogs.
When fresh spoor is encountered the hunters will decide, depending on
how long ago the animal was there a.nd how fast it was moving, whether it is
worth following up. They may also decide to track down a particular animal,
which may be selected for its size, sex or condition, and encourage the dog�
to follow its scent. In closed terrain the dogs usually detect gemsbok first,
but in open terrain the hunters can see further than the dogs. If the gemsbok
is spotted from a distance, the hunters will keep bushes between them and
it to stay out of sight as they approach it, until they are close enough to
chase the dogs after it. When the dogs give chase, the way a gemsbok reacts
may indicate whether it will stand and fight or flee. lf a gemsbok runs fast
with its head held high, it will probably flee, but if it runs with its head held
low, swinging it from side to side, it will probably stand to fight the dogs.
If there are several gemsbok, they may run off in different directions as the
dogs run in among them. Depending on each gemsbok's reaction and other
factors such as size, sex and condition, the hunters will decide which one
to follow.
A gemsbok will not stand and fight in the open, so it has to be followed
into denser woody vegetation. When it disappears out of sight, the hunters
must track it down, until the dogs can give chase again. In denser vegetation
the hunters may not be able to see the gemsbok's reaction to the dogs. but
they can tell from its spoor whether it was running fast (in which case the
dogs would have probably lost it) or whether it was running more slowly,
and the way it was kicking up sand as it was swinging its head from side
to side, in which case it might back up into a bush to fight off the dogs.
With its hindquarters protected by a thick bush, a gemsbok can success
fully fight off several dogs. While the dogs hold the gemsbok at bay, the
hunters stalk it to spear it at short range. To deliver a fatal wound, the hunter
must come to within about 10 m of it. To do this the hunter must remain
unseen until he can dash in to throw his spear and dash away to avoid the
gemsbok's retaliation, as it may kill him if he is not careful.
Hunting from horseback
Rock paintings in the Drakensberg and surrounding districts dating from
the middle of the nineteenth century illustrate hunters using horses ac
quired from immigrant European farmers (Townley Johnson, 1979; Wood
house, 1 984). In recent times hunters of the Kalahari have been hunting
increasingly from horseback. The relative ease with which antelope can be
hunted from horseback, especially when dogs are also used, has changed
hunting dramatically wherever horses have been introduced. Although it is
much more efficient, it does not require the skill, expertise and ingenuity
required for hunting with the bow and arrow.
6
Scientific Knowledge of Spoor
and Animal Behaviour
The learning process
Although they receive very little formal instruction, children of Kalahari
hunter-gatherers are exposed to a continuous process of learning in the form
of play activities and informal storytelling. From as early as three years old,
a boy plays with a little bow of wood and twine with arrows of grass stems,
shooting at still targets or dung-beetles and grasshoppers. As he grows older,
he will hunt lizards, mice and small birds. By stalking these small animals he
studies their behaviour, so that he not only gains experience in stalking but
acquires knowledge which he may use later when hunting large animals.
Older hays spend much time studying animal tracks. They may follow the
spoor of insects, scorpions, and at a later stage small mammals such as
mongooses, and reconstruct their feeding patterns and habits. In this way
their knowledge and tracking skills are developed through continuous study
of all the animals in their environment. Throughout their growing years,
children spend many hours listening intently to the conversation of their
elders. Much information is also transmitted among the children themselves,
from the older to the younger (Heinz, 1978a).
Hunters share their knowledge and experience with each other in sto
rytelling around the campfire, in which hunts and events are described in
minute detail. Although there seems to be relatively little direct transmission
of information or formal teaching, much knowledge is gained indirectly in
a relaxed social context. Knowledge gained informally is assimilated more
easily than knowledge gained under direct instruction, to which people
generally have an adverse reaction. Hunters take great delight in lengthy,
detailed and very gripping narrations of events they have experienced, us
ing non-verbal expression to dramatise their stories. Although they do not
take licence with the facts, artistic expression is used to relate events in
an entertaining way, thereby ensuring a continuous flow of information.
Storytelling therefore acts as a medium for the shared group knowledge of
a band (Blurton Jones and Kanner, 1976; Biesele, 1983).
When a boy is about 12 years old, he starts to accompany his father,
uncles or elder brothers on hunts. By this time he will have gained much
knowledge of animal behaviour through hunting small animals and listening
to storytelling. With unpoisoned arrows and a scaled-down bow and quiver,
the boy hunts mongooses, genets, hares and large birds. He learns to set
snares, thereby developing his ability to interpret spoor and predict the
movements of steenbok, duiker and terrestrial birds. He also hunts the
young of steenbok, duiker and that of larger antelope.
Ju/wasi hunters maintain that hunting is not something that one teaches,
it is something that one just does. You have to teach yourself (Blurton jones
and Kanner, 1 976). Tracking itself is not something that can be taught
directly and much depends on the boy's ability to teach himself. Even
when signs are pointed out by an experienced tracker, it is necessary to
analyse them carefully and critically in order to understand them. For exam
ple, a critical attitude-the basis of scientific enquiry (Popper, 1 963)-was
demonstrated by a young !X6 tracker who not only questioned the spoor
interpretation of his elder, but also suggested a better interpretation. A !X6
tracker explained that if a young man does not learn to think for himself
his "head will only be half full", that is, he cannot simply be told how to
track, he must discover it for himself. It is not just a question of practice and
experience, but involves the cultivation of a creative way of thinking. Fur
thermore, it is not possible for his elders to teach him everything he needs to
know, since he must continually acquire new knowledge and solve unique
problems in a never-ending process of discovery.
With his first successful killing of a large antelope such as a kudu or
gemsbok (which may be at the age of 1 5 to 18 years), a boy assumes
adult status as a hunter. A hunter's career reaches a peak between the ages
of 30 to 45. During this time he has an optimum combination of physical
fitness, skill, wisdom and experience. Even after his prime his skill and
experience grows with age. An old man may work with a young man,
often his son, who thus makes the most of the older man's wisdom and
experience when they interpret the spoor. The younger man will then do
most of the shooting (Lee, 1 979).
Mental qualities
Within each age group there is a wide range of hunting abilities from modest
to excellent. A study of Ju/wasi hunters has shown that in the younger age
groups, from 1 5 to 38 years old, 95 to 1 00 per cent of all the kudu kills
were made by the better half of the hunters, while in the older age groups,
from 39 to 49+ years old, 70 per cent of the kudu kills were made by the
better half. Furthermore, in the younger age groups, 70 per cent of all the
kudu kills were made by only 17 per cent of the hunters, while almost half
the hunters made no kudu kills at all (Lee, 1 979).
If above average eyesight or physical fitness were the main factors deter
mining hunting success, one would expect the poorer half of hunters in a
particular age group to contribute an even smaller percentage as they grow
older. Hunting does not require exceptional physical fitness, and during the
course of their normal activities hunters get enough regular walking exer-
Scientific Knowledge of Spoor and Animal Behaviour
cise for any of them to be fit enough to hunt. Although one cannot track
with poor eyesight, a tracker does not need exceptional eyesight. It is more
important to know what to look for and where to look for it (Lyell, 1 929).
Excellent eyesight might help in systematic tracking, but it will make no dif
ference in speculative tracking. Skill in stalking and shooting are acquired
at a relatively early age and do not improve with age. When a young man
accompanies an old man, the young man will do the shooting.
The fact that the better half of hunters made most of the kudu kills may be
explained by the hypothesis that tracking, which is intellectually the most
demanding aspect of hunting kudu (since it is a woodland species), requires
above average scientific intellectual abilities. The difference between the
age groups may be because younger trackers must rely more on their own
creative abilities, while older trackers can rely more on knowledge gained
through their own as well as others' experience. The poorer half of hunters
in a particular age group can therefore contribute a larger percentage of the
total number of kills as they gain experience with age.
The suggestion that above average scientific intellectual abilities are re
quired for tracking is also consistent with studies of the Hadza of Tanzania.
The Hadza also hunted with bow and poison arrows, and relied extensively
on tracking down the animal after it was shot. Large animals were killed by
a small minority of the adult men. Perhaps as many as half of the adult men
failed to kill even one large animal a year, and some men ::;carcely killed a
single large animal during their entire adult lives (Woodburn, 1 968).
Mental qualities listed by Ju/wasi hunters as essential in hunting include
alertness (chiho), sense (k.xai-Jn), knowledge (chi!ii) and cleverness (lxudz)
(Blurton Jones and Konner, 1976). The /Gwi use the word /xudifor ingenuity,
i.e. the ability to devise a novel and effective solution to a problem (Silber
hauer, 1981). The art of tracking involves a process of creative problem
solving in which hypotheses are continually tested against spoor evidence,
rejecting those which do not stand up and replacing them with better hy
potheses. Intuition is important in dealing with complex variables, such as
in estimating the age of spoor or interpreting spoor in loose sand. Concen
tration and memory also play a vital role in tracking.
In dealing with scientific knowledge, hunters are careful to discrimi
nate objective data from theory and interpretation (Blurton Jones and Kon
ner, 1976). Behaviour reconstructed from tracks is regarded with great confi
dence, but is distinguished from data based on direct observation. A distinc
tion is also made between behaviour actually seen or reconstructed from
tracks and behaviour that they think may happen. While hunters admit
ignorance very readily, some may give a hypothetical explanation of a phe
nomenon that is not clearly understood. They also discriminate observed
data from what they have heard someone else say they have seen and seem
to expect scepticism of each other (Blurton Jones and Konner, 1976). Such
scepticism is in fact the hallmark of scientific behaviour (Lakatos, 1 978a).
Spoor interpretation
The ability of Kalahari hunter-gatherers to interpret spoor is cultivated over
a lifetime and developed to an exceptionally high degree. For example,
men and women are able to identify the footprints of an individual person.
In order to do this, however, trackers must be familiar with that person's
spoor. Although they will be able to tell that a spoor belongs to someone
they do not know, they will not be able to identify a stranger by his/her
spoor until they have studied it carefully over a period of time. While women
usually have smaller and narrower feet than men, the size and shape of each
individual's feet differ in subtle ways. Someone with a slender body build
has slender feet, while someone who is stocky has shorter and relatively
broader feet. A person's spoor is also characterised by the way s/he treads
and walks. It may be characterised by the length of stride, the way the ball of
the foot is twisted, the way the toes may be pointing inward� or outwards,
the way the toes are splayed or curled in, the way the foot throws up
sand or characteristic scuff marks. Each person has an individual mannerism
when walking which can be identified in his/her spoor. These phenomena
enable experienced trackers to identify an individual's spoor even in soft
sand where the exact shapes of the feet may not be clear.
The small size of hunter-gatherer bands makes it easier for trackers to
identify the spoor of another person. Since the spoor of adults are easily
distinguished from those of children, and the spoor of men from those of
women, this leaves a relatively small number of similar spoor to differentiate
from each other. Furthermore, because each person only knows a relatively
small number of individuals, they can get to know each other, including
their spoor, much better than would be possible in large communities. In
very large communities, such as in villages or cities, it may not be possi
ble to differentiate the very large numbers of similar spoor. It is therefore
difficult for city dwellers, especially if they are not familiar with tracking,
to understand how it is possible for trackers to identity the spoor of an
individual. When I asked a group of !Xo trackers if they could identify the
spoor of individuals, they found it very amusing that I should ask them such
a stupid question. To them it is difficult to understand that some people can
not do it.
!Xo hunters can identify the spoor of most animal species larger than
mongooses, while the spoor of very small animab such as mice, small bird�.
reptiles and arthropods can be identified as belonging to a member of a
group of animals. Even in loose sand, where footprints are not very distinct,
the spoor of different mongoose species can be identified and steenbok
spoor can be distinguished from duiker spoor. Whe1e I myself was not
convinced that a small animal's spoor in loose sand could be identified,
they followed the spoor until a neat imprint was found that I could identify
to my own satisfaction. In very soft sand, the way the steenbok or duiker
treads determines the way the sand falls in. The steenbok treads deeply, with
its hoofs pointing down into the sand, while the duiker treads flat-footed.
The spoor of diurnal mice are distinguished from the spoor of nocturnal
Scientific Knowledge of Spoor and Animal Behal'iour
mice, in that diurnal mice apparently keep to paths while nocturnal mice
run everywhere. The spoor of diurnal and nocturnal mice may also be
distinguished by an intuitive estimate of the spoor age, which may indicate
whether it was made during the day or night.
Their ability to identify spoor goes far beyond their immediate needs
in hunting. When I showed a group of !Xo trackers my spoor illustrations
(Liebenberg, 1990). one tracker identified the spoor of a large ant, which one
would not expect to be relevant to hunting. They also identified the spoor
of many other small animals, such as that of beetles, scorpion, millipede,
legless skink and lizards. Among the illustrations of bird spoor, they not only
identified the dove spoor, but specifically singled out the Namaqua dove
spoor as being that of a Namaqua dove. My spoor illustrations generally
caused great excitement, and women and children enthusiastically took part
in the discussions. The women seemed just as knowledgeable on spoor as
the men and in fact one young woman almost put the men to shame.
Sometimes hunters do make mistakes in identifying spoor of smaller ani
mals. After estimating the age of the spoor of an ostrich. a tracker pointed
to a "mouse'' footprint superimposed on that of the ostrich spoor to sub
stantiate his claim. Although the details of the little footprint in the soft sand
were too indistinct to distinguish, the trail was not that of a mouse, and after
studying it more closely, I pointed out to him that it was the spoor of a small
bird. When he realised his mistake, he said that he had looked too quickly.
He explained that one must not look too quickly at spoor, because you
will "see it differently". One must, he maintained, study spoor carefully and
think before you make a decision. He was probably so anxious to substanti
ate his estimate of the age of the ostrich spoor that his mind was prejudiced
to "recognise'' the small bird spoor as a "mouse spoor" (see Chapter 8).
The sex of an animal is usually distinguished by the size and shape of
the footprints. Where males are larger and more massive than females, their
spoor are larger and the footprints of the forefeet are relatively broader
than those of the females (see Fig. 18). Females apparently also tread more
gently than males. !Xo trackers correctly differentiated the sexes when I
showed them my illustrations of kudu spoor, and similarly differentiated
my illustrations of lion and leopard spoor. While they seem to be able to
determine the sex of large animals from their spoor, they did not always
seem to he able to distinguish that of smaller animals such as springhok,
steenhok and duiker. They explained that the spoor of the forefeet of female
steenhok are broader than those of the male, because female steenbok are
more massive than male steenbok. They were not always sure, however,
and hunters often differed in their interpretation. It is not always possible to
distinguish the sex of smaller animals from their spoor since the differences
are very small. The sex of animals is also determined by association (see
Chapter 1 0) or the relative position of urine to the back feet or faeces (see
Chapter 9).
The age of a growing animal is indicated by the size of the spoor which
increases until the animal reaches adulthood and correlates with the size of
the ammal. The edges of the hoofs of young antelope will also be clean and
sharp, and the toes may splay out because it treads gently. As an antelope
grows older the hoofs become worn and the edges may he chipped. The
hoofs of an old antelope may he very worn and blunted with age, and
it may show signs of weakness in the way it walks. The condition of an
animal is indicated by the way it treads and walks. For example, a healthy,
fat animal will tread deeply and firmly, while a weak, lean animal may tread
weakly and drag its feet, or show signs of limping.
With regard to large animals such as kudu, gemshok and eland, hunters
can apparently identify the spoor of individual animals in the same way as
they identify the spoor of individual persons. Although I have not been able
to confirm this, I believe that it is possible. In my own experience of studying
animal tracks, I have never found two animals whose footprints are exactly
the same. The sizes and shapes of each individual animal's footprints differ
in subtle ways. The hoofs of antelope may also he chipped, which would he
characteristic of the individual animal. Spoor may also he characterised hy
the way the animal walks. In the case of smaller animals, such as springhok,
it is usually not possible for a hunter to identify the spoor of an individual
animal, except when an animal's spoor has an unusual feature. It may
sometimes be possible if a hoof is broken, skew or unusually long, or
if the animal drags its feet in a characteristic way. The subtle differences
in shapes and sizes of each individual animal's spoor are usually too small
to be distinguished in smaller animals. Since !Xo trackers could infer from
spoor interpretation that the nocturnal porcupine is monogamous (see p.82),
it is clear that they can identify individual porcupines by their spoor. And
if they can identify individual porcupines hy their spoor, they can probably
identify the spoor of individual animals larger than porcupines.
Some people are said to have a "photographic memory" or eidetic im
agery. Such people can hold visual images in their short-term memory that
are almost photographic in clarity. Studies with children indicate that eidetic
imagery is quite rare (in industrialised societies). The existing evidence also
indicates that there are even fewer individuals who retain eidetic imagery
after adolescence (Atkinson, Atkinson and Hilgard, 1 981).
It is possible that through continuous practise since childhood, Kalahari
trackers may have a highly developed eidetic imagery. The rarity of eidetic
imagery in industrialised societies, particularly after adolescence, may sug
gest the low importance of such visual imagery in industrialised cultures.
The eidetic imagery may simply be lost due to lack of use, or even re
pressed by our authoritarian modern educational institutions. In contrast,
the hunter-gatherer"s very survival may have depended on a highly refined
eidetic imagery.
While !Xo trackers have no difficulty in recognising differences in the
spoor of different animals, not all of them can explain why they differ
as they do. When asked, for example, why the spoor of a steenbok is
different from that of a duiker, a standard answer would be: "Because that
a
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The right fore spoor of (a) steenbok (b) duiker (c) springbok (d) kudu
(e) gemsbok (f) eland
is how God made them". However, some trackers are able to give very good
explanations of general characteristics of spoor.
One !Xo tracker pointed out that the spoor of steenbok, !'.pringhok and
gemsbok are the same, i.e. the animals all have sharp, pointed hoofs, while
the spoor of duiker, kudu and eland are the same, i.e. the animals all
have rounded hoofs (see illustration above). He also explained why some
antelope have sharp. pointed hoofs while others have rounded hoofs. In
order to escape danger, the steenbok, like the springbok, must run very fast
over the open plains. (Steenbok and springbok are species which inhabit
open country.) Their sharp, pointed hoofs tread deeply, pointing down
into the sand, to obtain a good grip. The steenbok, he said, runs faster than
the duiker, while the springbok runs faster than the kudu. The duiker and
the kudu cannot run fast because they have heavy bodies, relative to their
sizes. Their hoofs are more rounded for agility and they tread flat-footed to
support their weight. They keep to thick bush and to escape danger, they
run a zigzag course through the bushes and then hide themselves. (Duiker
and kudu are woodland species and do not occur in open grassland.) The
duiker and kudu, he maintained, run ··cunningly" to escape their enemies.
Estimating the Age of Spoor
One of the most difficult aspects of tracking is estimating the age of spoor.
An ability to determine the age of spoor can be acquired only through
considerable experience, and while some trackers seem to be as good as
one could expect them to be, others do not seem to be very good at all.
Due to the complexity of the variables involved, estimates are usually at
best intuitive.
An indication of the accuracy of intuitive estimates of spoor age is given
by a graph plotting the Mean Absolute Deviation of estimates from the actual
age against the actual age (see illustration on opposite page). A deviation
was obtained by taking the absolute value of the difference between the
estimated age and the actual age. Before testing the hunters, I marked some
of my own footprints over a period of time, so that I knew how old they
were, but the hunters did not. They had to make intuitive estimates based
only on the rate the footprints lost definition due to weathering processes.
There were, for example, no superimposed animal tracks to assist them in
their estimations. They indicated the age by pointing to where the sun would
have been on that day or the day before. Four !Xo trackers were tested, and
the data used is that of the two who had the best results: N!am!kabe and
N!ate of Lone Tree. The other two were not very good at all.
The results are not necessarily representative of all hunters, since a much
larger number of trackers could have been tested. It can be expected that
the accuracy of estimates will vary from one individual to another, and there
may well be some hunters who are better than the ones I tested.
The Method of Least Squares was used to calculate the slope and intercept
of the straight line which gives the best fit to the data. The bottom line is for
estimates made in conditions where there was very little wind during the
period in question. The top line is for estimates made in windy conditions.
Although the samples are very small, N= 1 2 and N= 16 respectively, the linear
correlation coefficients indicate that there is a 90 per cent confidence that
the data are positively correlated. The graph indicates, for example, that for
relatively windless conditions and for spoor about 1 0 hours old the mean
deviation is about five hours. Assuming the sample is representative and
that tracker's errors are normally or Gaussian distributed, this implies that
in relatively windless conditions approximately 60 per cent of a tracker's
estimates may vary from five hours to 15 hours if the actual age of the
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Actual Age in Hours
Accuracy of intuitive estimates of spoor age. Data points for a test in relatively
windless conditions are circled and those for a test in windy conditions are
enclosed by triangles.
spoor is 10 hours (Stewart, pers. comm.). Trackers' estimates are usually
more accurate for fresher spoor, becoming less accurate for older spoor.
The fact that the fitted line for windy conditions lies above the fitted line for
relatively windless conditions indicates a higher error for windy conditions.
While intuitive estimates based on weathering processes may not always
be very accurate, a tracker can sometimes make more accurate estimations.
Signs that involve rapid moisture loss may give a fairly accurate indication
of the age of the spoor when it is still very fresh, such as droppings that are
still slimy or sticky, or very fresh urine. Saliva on bushes where an animal
was feeding also indicates that the spoor is very fresh. When an animal has
been drinking at a waterhole, splash marks will be very fresh, since the
water evaporates quickly. If it is still early in the morning, and the animal's
footprints are superimposed on top of fresh tracks of a diurnal animal , such
as a small bird, then there is a reliable upper limit to the age of the spoor.
If the animal was resting in the shade, a fairly accurate estimation of the
position of the sun at that time can be made. When a very strong wind is
blowing, tracks may rapidly lose definition, so clear, distinct footprints will
be very fresh.
When tracking down an animal, a high degree of accuracy is not important
in determining the age of older spoor. All that is important for the trackers
to know at this stage is whether or not they have a reasonable chance
of overtaking the animal. A positive lead may he better than nothing, and
a spoor may be abandoned to take up a fresher spoor, such as a spoor
superimposed on top of the spoor being followed. During the hunt trackers
will continually re-evaluate the age of the spoor so that even if they are
sometimes way off the mark, their estimates will on average become better
and better as they close in on their quarry. It is crucial to know when the
spoor is very fresh since trackers must move �tealthily when they are close
to the animal. Each time that the hunters I accompanied indicated that the
spoor was very fresh, it was not long before the animal was spotted a short
distance away. In the art of tracking approximate estimates are sufficient
to serve their purpose. Greater accuracy is not required, since hunters can
make allowance for possible errors.
Time, Dista11ce a11d Directio11
Estimating the age of the spoor, the distance the animal may have travelled,
and the direction of travel requires quantitative measures of time. distance
and direction. The shortest time interval, used when spoor is estimated to be
very fresh, is indicated by flicking the fingers. The shorter the interval, the
greater the excitement indicated by the flicking of the fingers. This gesture
implies that the animal is expected to be in the near or immediate vicinity.
and that the hunters must move more stealthily. since they might be within
hearing range of the animal.
\X'hen spoor is not very fresh, the time when the animal is estimated to
have passed that spot is indicated by pointing to the position in the sky
where the sun would have been. Time measurements dividing the day that
are frequently used are: First Light: Dawn: Sunri�e; Morning: Mid-morning:
Midday: Mid-afternoon; Late Afternoon: Sunset; After Sunset; Dusk; Late
Evening ( until zodiacal light disappears ); Proper Night, after about 10 p.m.:
Midnight; False Dawn (when the eastern horizon begins to lighten >: and
the time when the stars being to fade. A period of a few days is measured
in terms of the number of days. while a period of more than a week or
so is referred to as ''a clump of days··, "a big clump of days" or "many
days" (Silberbauer, 19Hl).
Distance is measured in terms of the time it takes to walk it. The distance
implied depends on the speed walked, so the circumstances must be known.
A woman gathering food may cover one or two kilometres in an hour, while
a man walking at a brisk pace could cover six or seven kilometres in the
same time. Long distances are measured in terms of the number of nights
one would sleep while making the journey, and fr�tetions of a remaining
day in terms of the position in the sky of the sun on arrival. The optimal
route is not a straight line, but a compromise bet\\- een distance, ease of
travel and convenience of food supplies along the route. Ease of travel
may, for example, involve avoiding thick bush, but taking advantage of
shade (Silherbauer, 1981).
Direction is expressed in terms relative to named localities. The directional
meaning of a locality therefore changes as your own position changes (Sil
berhauer, 1981). Hunter-gatherers also orientate themselves by visualising
the uniform and flat landscape of the Kalahari as a complex of smaller and
larger plant communities. and hy recognising the position, shape, size and
peculiar constitution of each plant community (Heinz, 1978a).
These quantitative measures are by no means as accurate as those used,
for example, in modern physical science. In the art of tracking, however,
greater accuracy is not required. These measures are sufficiently accurate
for the estimates to serve their purpose in a hunting context. Owing to the
complexity of variables involved, it may not he possible to make estimates
with any greater accuracy. Judging by the accuracy of intuitive estimates
of spoor age by two trackers testeJ (see page 76), and the opportunities
given where they could have made more accurate estimations, any greater
.. accuracy" would be meaningless.
Interpretation of Acti11ities
The interpretation of an animal's activities and prediction of its movements
is based not only on spoor evidence alone. hut also on a knowledge of the
animal's behaviour and the environment. The gait of the animal is indicated
by the relative positions of the footprints (see Chapter 10). The speed at
which the animal was moving is indicated by the distances between the
footprints, as well as the way sand is kicked up. Signs on the ground made
by the animars body and limbs may be interpreted hy visualising what the
animal was doing. When explaining these signs, hunters may mimic the
animal to show you what the animals were doing. For example, a tracker
may point out where a jackal sat and scratched itself. Activities like these are
evident from the spoor itself, and do not require any further reconstnictions.
The way an animal moves may further imply activities not evident in
the spoor itself. If, for example, the footprints of a fox indicate that it was
moving very slowly, this may imply that it was hunting for mice, lizards,
scorpions and insects, and that it was moving slowly so as not to he seen
while scenting for its prey. The hunting activity itself is not evident from the
spoor. unless signs of a catch are found. but is indicated hy the way the fox
moves when hunting. It should he stressed that the signs of the fox moving
very slowly do not nece��arily imply that it was hunting, only that it may
have been hunting, since it could have been moving slowly for a different
reason. Signs of a kill, however, would confirm that it was in fact hunting.
The context of the spoor - the environment and a knowledge of the
animal's behaviour - may enable the tracker to extrapolate from the spoor
evidence in order to predict the movements and activities of an animal.
Discussing the spoor of two black-backed jackals that were trotting in the
direction of a nearby pan, for example, !Xo trackers maintained that the
jackals (a male and female which they said were a mating pair) were going
to scavenge for meat, possibly at the pan. They then went on to say that
after eating some meat, the jackals would go and lie down during the
midday heat, and in the late afternoon would go back for more meat, after
which they would hunt for mice. A similar extrapolation was made from the
spoor of a suricate that was trotting away from a nearby pan. The trackers
explained that it was coming from its warren in the hard ground in the pan
and was on its way to look for scorpions where the ground is soft and
sandy.
When hunting, the ability to extrapolate from spoor evidence is important
to predict the possible whereabouts of an animal. While tracking down a
solitary wildebeest spoor of the previous evening, !Xo trackers pointed out
evidence of trampling which indicated that the animal had slept at that spot.
They explained consequently that the spoor leaving the sleeping place had
been made early that morning and was therefore relatively fresh. The spoor
then followed a straight course, indicating that the Jnimal was on its way
to a specific destination. After a while, one tracker started to investigate
several sets of footprints in a particular area. He pointed out that these
footprints all belonged to the same animal. but were made during previous
days. He explained that that particular area was the feeding ground of that
particular wildebeest. Since it was, by that time, about midday. it could
be expected that the wildebeest may be resting in the shade in the near
vicinity. The trackers then followed up the fresh spoor, mo\'ing stealthily as
the spoor became very fresh, until one of them spotted the animal in the
shade of a tree, not very far from the area that was identified as its feeding
ground. The interpretation of the spoor was based not on the evidence of
the spoor alone, but also on their knowledge of the animal's behaviour, on
the context of the spoor in the environment and on the time of the day. All
this enabled the trackers to create a reconstmction of the animars activities
which contained more information than was evident from the spoor itself.
Another example shows how Ju/wasi trackers successfully predicted the
whereabouts of kudu (Marshall, 1956). Estimating the age of the spoor from
some moist dung of the kudu, and judging from the direction of the spoor,
a tracker predicted that the kudu had moved to the west to a clearing the
tracker already knew was there. The tracker's knowledge of the environment
enabled him to extrapolate from the spoor evidence to predict where the
animal may have been found Such predictions may not always he correct,
but when they are, the tracker can save time hy taking short cuts. When
a prediction proves to be incorrect, the tracker must of course investigate
alternative possibilities.
Usually tracking involves predicting where the animal was going hut
sometimes it may be more advantageous to determine where the animal
was coming from. Discussing the signs of where an ostrich had enjoyed a
dust-bath, !Xo trackers explained that if one wanted to find the bird's nest.
to take the eggs, it would he quicker to backtrack in order to determine
where it had come from, rather than tracking to determine where it was
going to. This is because an ostrich apparently has a dust-hath directly after
Scientific Knozcledge of Spoor and Animal Behaviour
it has left the nest, and then goes on to feed in the veld, only returning
to the nest later that day. The distance back to the nest is therefore much
shorter than the distance covered after it had a dust-hath. The decision to
backtrack cannot he made on grounds of the evidence of the dust-bath itself.
but requires a knowledge of the ostrich's habits. This knowledge may, of
course, be gained by studying the spoor coming to and going away from
the dust -hath, thereby reconstructing the activities of the ostrich throughout
the day. The tracker does not have to observe the animal itself to acquire
kno\vledge of its daily habits.
The reconstruction through spoor evidence of events that have not actu
ally been seen is an important component of the process of acquiring new
knowledge in tracking. An example of this is the reconstruction given by
Ju/wasi trackers of the hunting conduct of a pair of lions ( Blurton Jones
and Konner, 1976). They described how the lions approached together to
a certain point and then split up. One lion continued a short distance and
then lay down to \vait. The other lion encircled the prey and then pounced
on it, whereupon the waiting lion rushed up to join in the attack. While the
paths taken by the two lions were clear from the spoor. the interpretation
of the relative timing of the attacks was based on the way they moved.
The sub�equent tracks of the lion who lay down did not indicate that it
was stalking its prey or was about to leap at it, hut indicated that it was
running in an erect posture. It should be noted that the reconstruction of
the relative timing of the attacks was only hypothetical. i.e. the waiting lion
did not necessarily get up only after the other lion started the attack. It is
possible that the waiting lion got up into an erect posture before the other
lion attacked in order to cha�e the prey towards the lion who encircled it.
If this had been true, however, there would have been signs indicating that
the prey was fleeing towards the lion who first pounced on it.
The ability to reconstruct activities that have not been seen enables the
tracker to study the activities uf nocturnal animals whose behaviour would
otherwise be unknown. For example, !Xo trackers maintain that a spring
hare feeds the whole evening, hut goes back into its burrow at midnight
to rest for a while, after which it will come out again to feed until the
morning. It will go hack into its hole before first light, and not come out
again before dark. I have not been able to establish the truth of their claim
that it goes hack into its burrow during the night, but this would be indicated
hy tracks leaving and entering the burrow twice during the course of one
night. Their claim that it "rests for a while" at midnight may perhaps be
based on analohry with diurnal animals which rest at midday. While the
resting period of diurnal animals corresponds with the hottest time of the
day, however, the ··resting period'" of the spring-hare does not seem to be
related to temperature. i.e. it could not, for example, be related to the coldest
part of the night, which is just before sunrise.
Other examples of the known activities of nocturnal animals include their
mating ceremonies described hy !Xo trackers (Heinz, 1978a). They main
tained that the courtship of the caracal lasts over a period of four days,
and that the male leaves the female after mating and does not return un
til the cubs are born. The porcupine, also a nocturnal animal, is said to
live in burrows which it takes away from anthears by contaminating the
hole with its own urine. Porcupines apparently play extensively at different
places before mating, and it has been further maintained that after mating
a union lasts for life (Heinz, 1978a). Recent research has shown that porcu
pines are monogamous (Van Aarde, 1987). The !Xo trackers' knowledge of
this fact suggests their ability to recognise an individual porcupine by its
spoor. An example of a hypothetical proposition is their statement that they
suspect that pangolins mate underground. because neither mating activities
nor mating places have ever been seen.
When dealing with sparse spoor evidence, the interpretation of individual
trackers may differ considerably. !Xo trackers. for example, gave different
interpretations of dried-out droppings from a large antelope in a pan after
the footprints had been obliterated completely by the wind. One tracker.
Kayate, identified it as being that of a gemsbok, while another, N!am!kabe,
maintained that it was that of a hartebeest. A third tracker, Borah//xao,
supported Kayate's interpretation while a fourth tracker, N !ate, supported
N!am!kabe's interpretation, so they could not reach consensus on it. I did
not have enough experience to know who was correct or if it was in
fact possible under the circumstances to tell whether the already dried-out
droppings, in the absence of footprints, could be identified as being either
that of gemsbok or hartebeest, so this point remains unresolved.
Kayate then said that the antelope licked for salt, but he did not know
in which direction it went because he could not see its spoor. N!am!kabe.
however, had a more creative approach. He proposed that the antelope
came from the east and went off to the west to its feeding ground. He went
on to say that it did not come back that morning, but went on to another
pan. From that pan it would have gone in the other direction to where the
grass is green. Although the only sign of the animal was its droppings, the
identity of which was disputed, he reconstructed the animal's movements
on the basis of the estimated age of the droppings, the direction the wind
was blowing at the time it was deposited, the fact that antelope usually
move into the wind (to scent danger from ahead), its daily feeding and
salt-licking habits and his knowledge of the environment. His hypothetical
reconstruction went beyond the direct evidence of the signs, but enabled
him to make a prediction which, if followed up, would either be confirmed
or refuted. Sometimes his predictions may have been refuted, but sometimes
they may have been correct, but when they were, it would have given him
a better chance of locating the animal than the more conservative tracker,
who would have had no lead at all.
While sparse spoor evidence will be of no use to the conservative, system
atic tracker, who does not go beyond direct evidence. the more creative,
speculative tracker may make bold conjectures, enc1bling him to predict
where the animal may have gone. This ability would give the speculative
tracker a considerable advantage in difficult terrain, where footprints are not
Scientific Knowledge of Spoor and A m mal Behaviou r
always clear. The ability to solve problems i n a n imaginative way would also
enable the speculative tracker to learn more about animal behaviour from
spoor. Scientific progress is determined primarily by human creative imagi
nation and not by the trial-and-error accumulation of facts (Lakatos, 1978a).
Knowledge of Animal Behaviour
The /Gwi, !Xo and Ju/wasi knowledge of animal behaviour essentially has
an anthropomorphic nature. Animal behaviour is perceived as rational and
directed hy motives based on values (or the negation of those values) that
are either held by hunter-gatherers themselves or by other peoples known
to them. These motivational and value systems of animals do not correspond
in all respects with human systems, but are modified to fit the perceived
circumstances of the animals themselves (Silberbauer, 1 98 1 ; Heinz, 1978a;
Blurton Jones and Kanner, 1976).
Despite its anthropomorphic nature, their knowledge of animal behaviour
is sufficiently accurate for planning hunting tactics and for anticipating and
predicting the activities of animals. Although their knowledge is at variance
with that of European ethologists, it has withstood the vigorous empirical
testing imposed by its use, illustrating the view that alternative cognitive
maps can, up to a certain level of analysis, serve as equally effective equiv
alents (Silberbauer, 198 1 ). The anthropomorphic nature of their knowledge
of animal behaviour is not necessarily unscientific. It may, on the contrary,
be a result of the creative scientific process itself. Anthropomorphism may
well have its origins in the way trackers must identify themselves with an
animal. When tracking, they must think in terms of what they would have
done if they had been the animal in order to anticipate and predict its
movements (see Chapters 8 and 1 1).
The behaviour of animals is seen by the /Gwi as bound by the natural
order of N!adima (God). Such behaviour can be accounted for in terms of
knowable regularities. and is believed to be rational and directed by intel
ligence. Each species is perceived to have characteristic behaviour, which
is governed by its kxodzi (customs), and each has its particular kxwisa
(speech, language). Animals are believed to have acquired special capabil
ities by means of rational thought. These capabilities are believed to have
been passed on hy the discoverers or inventors in that population, and
were thereby institutionalised as elements of the species' customs (Silher
bauer, 1981).
Mutually beneficial species and even some that are hostile to one another
are believed to he able to understand one another's language, and some
animals are believed to be able to understand a certain amount of /Gwi. A
limited amount of the language of some species, such as the alarm calls of
birds, can also be understood by humans (Silberbauer, 1981).
It has long been assumed by modern scientists that animals cannot com
municate by means of symbolic expression as humans do. It was thought
that while humans use arbitrary sounds (words) to represent abstract con
cepts, animals can only express emotion. Recent research suggests, how-
ever, that the sophistication of animal language has been underestimated. It
has been found, for example, that vervets have different alarm calls for their
three main predators, namely leopards, eagles and snakes. Other vervets
react to each type of call in the appropriate way, each type of predator
requiring different evasive action. This implies that vervets could he using
symbolic language in which specific concepts or objects are represented by
arbitrary sounds. Furthermore, it was found that calls that were perceived
by monkeys as being different, each with a different meaning, could not
always he differentiated by the human ear. It is therefore likely that humans
would underestimate the extent to which animals are using signals to con
vey information. Evidence also indicates that the appropriate u�e of various
alarm calls are learned. Japanese macaques living in different areas have
been found to use local dialects, suggesting that they have been culturally
transmitted rather than genetically inherited ( Dunbar, 1985).
The belief of hunter-gatherers that each species has its own language
may therefore not be very far from the truth. And if some animals do
have a language, then it is conceivable that some behavioural strategies,
or ··customs", may be passed on to younger and inexperienced members of
the group. After learning to associate specific sounds with specific reactions.
the inexperienced member may learn why �pecific reactions are necessary
to avoid specific animals. The use of language may therefore "tell" the
inexperienced member that a specific animal is dangerous and what it must
do to evade it. The knowledge of some animals that a specific animal
is dangerous and what to do to evade it might not be instinctive, but
learned. While some behavioural patterns may be inherited genetically, it is
po-;sihle that in some animals some behavioural strategies may he culturally
transmitted in the same way that language may be culturally transmitted.
Examples of animal language most commonly encountered hy hunters
are the alarm calls and mobbing behaviour of birds. !Xo hunters maintain
that when they are stalking their quarry, small birds. who can see them from
where they are sitting high up in the trees, will ''tell" the antelope about the
hunters. Birds are also said to "laugh" at the hunters when they are stalking,
thereby betraying the hunters' presence. While birds may sometimes be a
nuisance, they also help hunters at times. !Xo hunters say that if they see a
blackfaced babbler, Turdoides melanops, the morning after an antelope has
been shot with a poison arrow, they will watch the bird carefully, because
it will show them where the animal has foundered. If the dead animal is
close by, the bird will go and sit on it. If the bird sits on the spoor and then
flies far away, however, the hunters claim that this means that the animal
has died far away.
!Xo hunters also maintain that birds may warn them of danger, such as
snakes, leopards or lions. Warnings are not only in the form of alarm calls,
but may he transmitted by displays or other behdviour. For example, a little
bird may act strangely in a bush, indicating possible danger hidden from
view or a courser may swoop down at something, indicating the presence
of a leopard or a lion.
Scientific Knowledge of Spoor and Animal Behaviou r
I n times of danger o r disturbance, many bird species produce character
istic calls which may vary from "general purpose" distress calls to special
alarm calls given in response to specific predators. When one individual
spots a predator. its alarm call will alert the whole group. It is therefore not
necessary for all individuals of a group to be alert the whole time. Mobbing
involves deliberate predator harassment by prey species. It is particularly
characteristic of small passerines. Squirrels also mob snakes, while hyaenas
are known to mob lions. In birds, mobbing attacks are often associated
with characteristic calls, which are unlike alarm calls. Swooping flights with
a snarling call may be made close to predators. Mobbing may have a de
terrent effect on a predator in that it may indicate to the predator that it
has been spotted. It rna y also facilitate the cultural transmission of predator
recognition (Barnard, 1983).
The trackers' ability to interpret spoor enables them to reconstruct the
context of a particular animal's communication even where they could hear
it, but not see it. By estimating the distance and direction of a call, trackers
can go to the place where the animal was and study its tracks to determine
what it was doing. So. for example, !Xo hunters are able to interpret the
nocturnal calls of jackals. When a jackal gives a long, smooth howl that di
minishes in loudness (WHAaaa . . .), then it is simply maintaining contact with
other jackals. If, on the other hand, it gives a shuddering howl, diminishing
in loudness and ending in a soft cough (WHA-ha-ha-ha . . . umph), then it is
following the spoor of a scavenger or large predator. !Xo trackers explain
that it "stutters" because it is afraid. If the jackal gives the shuddering howl
only once, then it was following a hyaena spoor. It has left the spoor after
the first call because it will not get much meat by following the hyaena. If,
however, it repeats the shuddering howl several times, then it is following
the spoor of a leopard or a lion. It continues to follow the spoor because
it knows that the spoor will lead to a lot of meat. The morning after we
had heard a single shuddering call, for example, the hunters pointed out
the spoor of a jackal superimposed on that of a hrown hyaena. Apart from
warning the hunters of the danger of lions at night, jackal calls may indicate
the recent movements of predators and scavengers, which may be taken
into account when planning hunting strategy.
The /Gwi and !Xo folk knowledge contains more information about ethol
ogy, anatomy and physiology of mammals than ahout other classes. Their
concepts of mammalian ethology are also more overtly anthropomorphic
than those concerning other classes (Silberbauer, 198 1 ; Heinz, 1978a). Each
of the large mammal species, which can be prey, a competitor for prey, or
a danger, has a specific name. Many of the small mammals that are periph
eral to the hunter's interest-such as the rodents-are given generic terms
or derived names. Their knowledge of antelopes is the most extensive of
all animals. It includes information on their food habitat, habits, social be
haviour and reproduction. They know for each species whether it is solitary
or social; whether there is a strict or loose matriarchal system; whether bulls
run together according to age groups or not; or if there is a father-son re-
lationship as in the kudu. They also gather information on relationships
with other species, including symbiotic associations. Their knowledge of
reproduction includes information on heat, gestation period, the number
of young, the age of the mother when she had her first-born. when and
where the young is dropped, and how the female hides her young. Atti
tudes towards offspring are also known. Both male and female steenbok,
for example, have been seen to run up to a hunter, crying and bleating for
the release of a calf. Their knowledge also includes such aspects as ante
lope behaviour towards the sick and wounded, and its reaction towards the
dead (Heinz, 1978a).
When interpreting mammal behaviour, anthropomorphic terms are used
to describe individual animals. The prey animal is expected to do its best
to avoid the hunters, using the strength and intelligence characteristic of its
species. While the hunter expect� to overcome the difficulties that challenge
his own skill and cunning (such as the animal's behaviour and other cir
cumstances), there is always the possibility of being outwitted or otherwise
frustrated by the individual animal's idiosyncratic behaviour. Some animals
are said to be ingenious in the ways they outwit the hunter. Others, who
do not conform to the customs of the species, are said to be stupid. When
studying a herd to select their target, hunters classify individual animals,
using terms associated with human attributes of personality and character.
Those animals that are judged to present too much difficulty because of their
contrariness or courage are rejected. Some animals are cowardly or cheat
ing. Others are insolent or conceited and may thet efore be likely targets.
/Gwi hunters use more than 18 categories which provide the basis for pre
dicting the animal's behaviour before and after it has heen shot. The /Gwi
also project their own values and habits in explaining the social structure
of groups and other types of mammal behaviour (Silherhauer, 1981).
One of the easiest animals to shoot is the solitary hull. The solitary bull
acts as if he were abnormal. He eats, sleeps and walks without interest
in others of his species, even in period of rut, and he is usually fat. Even
when he may notice something suspicious, he immediately forgets what
drew his attention and continues to graze, unlike a hull in a herd who
never fails to react to a disturbance. Once a male is out of a herd, he
can never join another herd because each animal has its own herd smell.
Not all solitary animals are old or abnormal. Among wildebeest, eland and
hartebeest, animals that were once wounded and were unable to keep up
with the herd, but have subsequently recovered, are also forced to wander
on their own. If two such animals meet up, they will stay together, but
other herds will not let them in, and they are not allowed to take females
from herds. This type of behaviour does not, however, apply to springbok,
gemsbok and kudu (Heinz, 1978a).
The knowledge of hunters includes details such as the fact that hyae
nas watch the flight direction of vultures to determine the direction of
new sources of food. They even have a detailed knowledge of most of
the small mammals, such as gerbils, shrews, mice, bats, mongooses and
ground squirrels (Heinz, 1978a). Although birds are not as closely observed
and as well known as mammals, the /Gwi and !Xo have a considerable
knowledge of bird behaviour. Birds are considered to be intelligent crea
tures and are thought to react to many situations in the way humans would.
The explanation of bird behaviour is also anthropomorphic in character (Sil
berbauer, 198 1 ; Heinz, 1978a).
The lesser importance of birds, compared with mammals, is also indi
cated by the greater incidence of generic and derived names of birds. Most
birds regularly caught for food have specific names. Specific non-derived
names are also given to many birds that are of no economic importance but
which are either very common or have unusual habits, such as the night
jar ( Camprimulgus europaens and C. tristigma), the Namaqua dove ( Oena
capensis), the lesser striped swallow ( HinLndo abyssinica) and the Euro
pean swift (Apus apus). The majority of birds have derived names. Many of
these are onomatopoeic, echoing the bird's call. Others are descriptive of
some aspect of the bird's behaviour (Silberbauer, 1981 ).
The behaviour of birds is of practical value as an indicator of situations
that are of importance to hunters. We have already noted the importance
of alarm cries and mobbing behaviour. A pool of water can be detected
at a considerable distance by observing the flight patterns of some birds.
The morning flight direction of cattle egrets or ox-peekers may indicate
the direction of ungulates. Swallows that hawk low-flying insects in humid
weather often indicate coming rain. To interpret bird behaviour requires a
knowledge of both normal behaviour as well as significant deviations from
normal patterns (Silberbauer, 1981).
Among reptiles, the snakes, legless skinks and amphisbaena are grouped
under the same term. Those that are common or regarded as delicacies have
specific names, while less common species have derived names. Although
only a few species of snakes are lethal, all are regarded as dangerous
to some degree. While the consequences of snake-bite is greatly feared,
habitual watchfulness makes the probability of being bitten remote. The
legged skinks, agamas, lizards, geckos and chameleons form a vague, covert
taxon. Those that are hunted for their meat and a few considered to be
dangerous to humans, have specific names. Many, however, have no names
and are virtually ignored. Tortoise species all have specific names. Tortoises
are economically important as a source of meat and their shells are used as
ladles and bowls (Silberbauer, 1981 ).
Frogs and toads are grouped together under one generic term. Only
the bullfrog, Rana �p., which is a delicacy, has a specific name. Their
knowledge contains fairly detailed information on the feeding, breeding
and hibernating habits of many of the species, even those that are un
named (Silberbauer, 198 1 ).
Invertebrates play the least significant role in the lives of hunters. Clas
sification coincides to some extent with the taxonomy of European ento
mologists at the level of orders. Named classes are usually those containing
members that are useful, dangerous, particularly striking in appearance, or
nuisances. Within these taxa are individually named species. Those of great
importance (such as the beetle from whose larva poison is derived) have
specific names, while species of lesser importance have derived names.
Hunters have an extensive knowledge of the honey bee which goes far
beyond their practical requirements, in spite of the fact that the Jggres
siveness of the African honey bee does not encourage close observation.
Their knowledge of the physiology, ethology and ecology of some inver
tebrate species is fairly detailed in relation to the species' interaction with
hunter-gatherers (Silberbauer, 198 1 ).
To sum up, the extent of hunters' knowledge of animal behaYiour pro
gressively declines in relation to mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians,
and is least in relation to invertebrates. The extent to which human char
acteristics are attributed to animals are also the greatest with mammals and
least with invertebrates (Silberbauer, 1981). Furthermore, hunters' interest in
animal life is not limited to the animals they hunt, but appears to be in direct
proportion to their potential relevance to tracking and the ability of hunters
to distinguish their spoor. Every animal. down to the smallest invenehrate
that leaves a characteristic spoor is relevant to tracking. While hunters study
animal behaviour far beyond their immediate utilitarian neeJs in hunting,
even the most obscure detail may he used at some point in the future to
interpret spoor. If, for example, the spoor of a millipede or a particular mon
goose species is superimposed on the spoor of the trackers' quarry, then
that particular hit of information will only be useful to the trackers if they
have a detailed knowledge of the daily habits of the animals in question.
Yet the relevance of animal behaviour to tracking is limited to the trackers'
ability to identify spoor. Insect species. for example, are difficult to identify
by their spoor since many species have identical spoor. The relevance of
insect spoor is therefore confined to what all insects, which have a similar
spoor, have in common. The same applies to the spoor of small rodents
or of small passerines. For example, hunters know that all passerines are
diurnal, hut that some mice are diurnal, while others are nocturnal. The
spoor of mammals the size of mongoo�es and larger are all distinguishable,
as well as those of large birds. It would appear that species whose spoor
can he identified are all given specific names by hunters, while groups
of species whose spoor are indistinguishable are given generic or derived
names. Thus, although most doves have the same name, the Namaqua dove
is given a distinct species name by the !X6 and the /Gwi. When I showed
my spoor illustrations of dove spoor to a group of !X6 trackers, they were
able to single out the spoor of a Namaqua dove.
In order to put the hunters' knowledge of animal behaviour into perspec
tive, it must be understood from the trackers' point of view. As was noted
earlier, in order to understand animals, the trackers must identify themselves
with an animal. Yet in so doing they must inevitably project their own val
ues onto that of the animal. In tracking, the basic form of information is a
sign, and the trackers' knowledge of animal behaviour is used to create a
model in terms of which the sign is interpreted.
The Scientific Process
A scientific research programme consists of a set of hypotheses that form
a "hard core" which is protected from refutation by a "protective belt'' of
auxiliary hypotheses (Lakatos, 1978a; see Chapter 1 1). The art of tracking
involves an ongoing process of problem-solving and often new hypotheses
must he created to explain signs that cannot he explained in terms of the
hunter's ·'hard core" hypotheses. When hunting with dogs, for example,
hunters concentrate on gemsbok. Unlike other antelope which flee from
dogs, gemshok will usually stand and fight the dogs, giving the hunters the
opportunity to kill it. This may he regarded as a "hard core" hypothesis
upon which the hunter bases his initial assumptions when he hunts with
dogs.
Nevertheless, there are exceptions to the rule, which are explained in
terms of auxiliary hypotheses. Firstly, although other antelope usually flee
from dogs, a female will stand to protect her young. Secondly, not all
gemshok will stand and fight. and those that do. will not ctlways do so.
When a gemshok is encountered in the open (which is usual), it will not
stand and fight in the open, but will flee into a more wooded area where it
can protect its rear by standing against a thick bush, while fighting off the
dogs in front of it. As the gemsbok flee into more wooded areas, hunters
can see from the way they nm which will stand to fight the dogs and which
will not stop. This is explained in terms of the animals' "personalities". Some
gemsbok are said to he courageous, while others are more timid.
These hypotheses are used to create a model on which the hunter bases
his strategy. When he encounters fresh gemsbok spoor. his initial strategy
is based on the assumption that the gemsbok he is pursuing will stand
and fight the dogs. Only after the gemsbok has reacted to the dogs will the
hunter he able to predict if a specific gemsbok will stand or flee. Similarly, if
the spoor of other antelope are encountered, it is assumed that they will flee,
unless the spoor of a female with her young are found. These hypotheses
may not always enable the hunter to predict the reactions of gemshok. On
one hunt, !X6 hunters pursued a gemsbok into a wooded area. Although
the signs all indicated that this particular gemshok would stand and fight,
it did not, leaving the hunters somewhat puzzled. On their way hack the
hunters stopped to study fresh lion tracks close to where the gemsbok had
passed. They pointed to signs indicating that two lions had been leaping at
each other in play. One hunter later explained why the gemshok did not
stand and fight as they had expected it to. As the dogs chased it past that
point, the gemshok scented the fresh lion spoor, ''thought" that it was being
cha�ed by lions, and carried on running.
To explain why the gemsbok did not react as expected, circumstantial
evidence was used to create an additional auxiliary hypothesis. It should he
noted that the presence of fresh lion tracks need not necessarily have related
to the gemsbok's actions. It was only a possible explanation. Yet it was not
simply an ad hoc explanation, since it did have predictive value. If the
explanation had been correct, then the hunter could have decided to avoid
areas with fresh lion spoor in future, since the chances of success would
have been diminished by its presence. By not wasting time on gemshok that
would not stop in any case, the hunter would have improved his chances of
success. Conversely. if his hypothesis had been incorrect, then potentially
good leads would not have been followed up. Then the hunter's chances
of success might have decreased, since he might not have taken advantage
of spoor that could have led to success.
The predictive value of a hypothesis based on spoor interpretation, there
fore, may either increase or decrease a hunter's chances of success. As
tracking involves a continuous process of problem-solving, incorrect hy
potheses may be refuted while hypotheses that consistently enable the
tracker to make successful predictions will be retained. If a hunter's aux
iliary hypotheses enable him to successfully predict new facts. he has a
progressive research programme. If, on the other hand, new hypotheses do
not enable the hunter to predict new facts, his re�earch programme may
degenerate.
As new information is gathered, the hunter's theories of animal behaviour
may become more and more sophisticated. New hypotheses are created to
explain signs that may contradict his initial expectations, in order to make
new predictions. Scientific knowledge is not gained by trial and error. Rather,
novel facts are predicted by means of hypotheses that explain signs that
would otherwise he meaningless. To return to the earlier example, if the
hunter had not explained the gemsbok's actions in terms of the presence
of fresh lion tracks, the possible influence of fresh lion spoor on gemsbok
would not have been known. Then the presence of the lion tracks would
have been simply an incidental observation, with no meaningful value to
the hunter.
In science, no theory can be shown to be tme, even if it is tme, for the
number of possibly tme theories is infinite (Popper, 1972). Apart from the
fact that a specific set of signs in a particular context may be interpreted
in many possible ways in tracking, the theories in terms of which the signs
are interpreted may themselves have many alternatives. Even at the most
basic level of spoor interpretation it may be possible to create alternative
reconstmctions to explain signs. On one hunt, for example, Ju/wasi trackers
rejected a hypothesis that the animal was wounded high on the body in
favour of a hypothesis that it was wounded in the foot ( Blurton Jones and
Konner, 1 976). One hunter showed that grass, which had blood smeared
near its tip, was first bent to the ground by the passing anima] and then
smeared with blood by its foot. It then returned to the upright position after
the animal passed, creating the appearance that the anima] was wounded
high on the body.
Critical discussion is the basis of rational scientific enquiry (Popper, 1963).
If two or more men are hunting together they will discuss the evidence of
signs and debate the merits of various hypotheses. In the course of tracking
an animal, hypotheses will be tested continually against the spoor, replac
ing those that are refuted by better ones. Scientists do not, however, always
Scientific Knowledge of Spour and Animal Behaviour
reach consensus by means of rational argument. In modern science, scien
tists may use every means at their disposal to achieve their aims, including
methods such as propaganda and lobbying (Feyerabend, 1975). In track
ing, which is much more individualistic than modern science, an individual
hunter with a dominant personality, for example, may be able to put across
his argument in a forceful manner in order to influence other hunters.
On one occasion, two !Xo trackers, Kayate and N!am!kabe, could not
reach agreement on their interpretations of the spoor. Kayate, who was the
dominant personality among the group of four hunters, managed to per
suade the other two, N!ate and Boroh//xao, that he was right, and so his
interpretation was accepted by consensus. Judging by my own interpreta
tion of the spoor, however, I believed N!am!kabe was correct. Apart from
the fact that Kayate had a more dominant personality, N!am!kabe was a
stutterer, which put him at a disadvantage. With all the click sounds in the
!Xo language, he often had great difficulty in putting across a convincing
argument. Of the four hunters, N!am!kabe was the most imaginative tracker,
so his original ideas were often not accepted by the others. The other three
often mocked him for "telling stories". Yet on the one hunt, after the other
three had already given up hope, it was his insight and determination that
resulted in the successful tracking down of a wildebeest. Scientists, contrary
to the beliif that they never knowingly depart from the truth, are always
"telling stories" (Medawar, 1967).
Apart from their critical attitude, Kalahari trackers also show extensive
curiosity. Direct observations are often embellished with an immense amount
of detail. The evident delight with which they describe their observations
suggests that hunters find such observations interesting for their own sake.
They have a greater interest in animal behaviour than is required for the
practicalities of any specific hunt. They explore problems and acquire knowl
edge far beyond the utilitarian. The /Gwi, !Xo and Ju/wasi appear to know
more about many aspects of animal behaviour than European scientists. A
large store of information is accumulated and communicated, which may or
may not turn out to be useful in hunting. This may well be of adaptive value,
since knowledge that is gained when not needed, may be useful at another
time (Blurton Jones and Konner, 1976; Heinz, 1978a; Silberbauer, 1981).
Science involves a continuous process of discovery. The /Gwi recognise
fluctuations in the extent of their knowledge and of changes in their cul
ture. They believe that much knowledge was lost in the smallpox epidemic
of 1950 when many bands were decimated and dispersed. Since then,
some of the old knowledge has been rediscovered, and new knowledge
added. While recognising the merits of known and tested solutions, they
accept change and feel free to devise novel solutions to problems (Silber
hauer, 1981).
7
I,
Non-scientific Aspects of Hunting
While their scientific knowledge deals with direct sense perceptions and
rational thought, hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari also make use of informa
tion that is acquired by means of peripheral perception and intuitions, as
well as non-rational beliefs.
Peripheral perception
!Xo hunters maintain that if, while they are hunting, they feel a "burning
sensation" in the middle of their foreheads, just above the eyes, then they
know that their quarry is just ahead of them. Some hunters say that this
feeling on their foreheads is accompanied by perspiring under the arms
They also claim that they can sometimes "feel" the near presence of their
quarry in this way even before they find its spoor. One could argue that,
when hunters are tracking an animal, they analyse the complexity of signs,
make an intuitive estimate of the age of the spoor within a specific context
and then intuitively know that the animal may be just ahead of them.
This intense concentration may give rise to the experience of a "burning
sensation" on the forehead and the perspiration under the arms. We are
constantly homharded by a multitude of stimuli to which we cannot attend.
By selective attention our brains are able to select those stimuli that are
relevant, while ignoring others. By means of peripheral perception we are
also ahle to register stimuli that we do not know we perceive (Atkinson,
Atkinson and Hilgard, 1981).
Even hefore the hunter consciously sees the animal's spoor, he may sub
consciously perceive subtle signs of the animal's presence, such as the
distant twittering of ox-peekers or the barely perceptible scent of the animal,
lingering in the air. The hunter may be able to perceive signs of an animal
selectively and subconsciously, and this perception may find expression as
intuitive feelings.
!Xo hunters can apparently also "feel" danger, such as the presence of a
leopard or a lion. One hunter described the experience in graphic detail,
acting out his feelings and reactions. First he would feel his hair standing
on end at the back of his head, after which his heart would start beating
"wildly" . His whole body would then go cold with fear. Sometimes, after
feeling this sensation, he might have noticed a small bird acting strangely,
which would have indicated the presence of a leopard or a lion hidden from
view. When ''feeling" danger, the hunter may have registered signs of danger
(such as a little bird acting strangely) by means of peripher,ll perception,
without knowing it. Then he may have felt intuitively that something was
wrong. This could have led to a sensation of fear, which in turn may have
alerted him to the pre�ence of the little bird, thereby corroborating his first
impressions.
Presentiments
More than 100 years ago Bleek described presentiments experienced by
/Xam hunter-gatherers. They could feel in their bodies that certain events
were going to happen. These feelings were a kind of heating of the flesh.
which told them things. Those who were stupid, who did not understand
these teaching�, disobeyed them and got into trouble, such as being killed by
a lion. The beatings told those who understood them which way they should
not go, for example, or which arrow they should not use. It was a means hy
which they could get or perceive meat. or could perceive people coming hy
it. While dreams were regarded as speaking falsely and therefore as being
deceptive, presentiments were regarded as speaking the truth (Bleek and
Lloyd, 191 1).
When the hunter felt a tapping at his ribs, he would say that a springbok
seemed to be coming, for he could feel the black hair (on the sides of the
springhok). He would say that he could "feel the springhok sensation". The
hunter would feel the tapping when the springbok was coming and it wa�
scratching itself with its horns, and with its foot. The hunter would feel a
sensation in the calves of his legs when the springbok's blood was going
to run down them, for he would always feel blood when he was about to
kill a springbok. He would feel a sensation behind his hack of the blood
running down when he carried a springbok. He would have a sensation in
his feet as he felt the feet of the springbok rustling through the hushes. The
hunter would have a sensation in his face on account of the blackness of
the stripe on the face of the springbok and he would feel a sensation in his
eyes, on account of the black marks on the eyes of the springhok (Bleek
and Lloyd, 191 1 ) .
These sensations described by Bleek may well be a result of the way
in which the tracker identifies himself with the animal when trJ.cking. In
order to anticipate and predict the animal's movements, the tracker must
think in terms of what he would do if he were that animal, and in his
imagination, he must become that animal. The tracker may therefore almost
fee/ like the animal. The tracker's presentiments may he a result of intuitive
thought processes, self-fulfilling prophecies, selective memory, or perhaps
some unknown process.
Both groups of !Xo hunters whom I accompanied on hunts maintain
that they experience presentiments which tell them that they will have a
successful hunt that day or that they have caught an animal in a trap or
snare. These hunters claim that they often have "feelings" before they go
Non-scientific Aspects of Hunting
out on a hunt, which tell them that they will he successful. They maintain
that when they feel an "itching'' sensation in their right hand palms. or if
they perspire and feel a "burning" sensation under their armpits, then they
know they will come back with meat that day.
If these presentiments do have predictive value, as the !Xo hunters claim
they do. it is possible that the hunter may, on the basis of extensive spoor
information collected during the previous days. be able to know intuitively
that his chances of success are fairly good. It is possible that he may make
a subcon�cious evaluation of a multitude of signs observed over a period
of time, and that his intuitive prediction may be revealed in the form of
"feelings" which the hunter has learned to associate with successful hunts.
The perspiring under the armpits and "itching" of the palms may he the
result of mental concentration during a complex problem-solving process,
similar to the way a student may perspire due to tension during examina
tions, or when trying to solve a difficult problem. It is possible that hunters
have learned to associate the state of mental tension, that causes them to
perspire in this way, with a reasonable chance of success. In the past, intu
itive feelings of confidence may have corresponded with actual successes,
so that when the hunter now feels such a sensation, he believes he will be
successful.
Even if their "presentiments" have no real predictive value, the belief that
they do may have a real effect on the outcome of the hunt. The belief that
they will be successful when they have these presentiments may make them
more motivated, thereby increasing their chances of success. Conversely, the
belief that they will have no luck when they have not "felt" anything, may
discourage them to the extent that they may lack the motivation needed to
be successful. The hunter's belief in presentiments may therefore result in
them becoming self-fulfilling prophecies.
It is also possible that the hunter's belief in presentiments may simply
be a case of selective memory. Only predictions that were coincidentally
successful are remembered, while unsuccessful predictions are simply for
gotten. One's mind tends to remember unusual incidents. such as successful
predictions, while insignificant incidents tend to slip from one's memory.
The hunter's selective memory may therefore lead him to believe that pre
sentiments work.
It is not known how reliable the presentiments of !Xo hunters really are.
I witnessed a few occasions when their presentiments proved to be cor
rect, and none proved incorrect. Nevertheless, such observations were not
enough to make it statistically significant, so it could have been coincidence.
One hunter explained that if he feels he will be successful and he is not,
it is because his body is "ill''. He also said that sometimes when he doesn't
feel anything, he is successful. But he claimed that such presentiments work
most of the time. Irrespective of whether their presentiments are either intu
itive, self-fulfilling prophecies, selective memory or a combination of these,
or perhaps some process which needs further research, !Xo hunters appear
to have great faith in them. As far as the hunters are concerned, presenti
ments play a very real part in their hunting success.
Divining
Some hunters, such as the Ju/wasi, use sets of disks, usually made of leather,
for divination. (The !Xo hunters whom I accomp:mied on hunts did not
make use of divining.) The matters on which the disks are consulted are
mundane, not occult. The disks are believed to be capable of revealing
recent or current events and circumstances and foretelling the near future.
Hunters consult the disks before going out on a hunt to determine in what
direction to look for animals (Marshall, 1976a).
Hunters may express different opinions. They insist that some can inter
pret better than others, and mock each other for ignorance in disk reading.
The meaning of the me��age, which is determined from the position into
which the disks fall with respect to each other, is apparently not governed
hy fixed rules. The interpretations are a product of the imaginations of the
hunters, who are free to see in the disks whatever comes to their minds.
Hunters know so much about animal behaviour and spoor information
about animal movements that their intuitive interpretation is more likely
to he right than wrong. They may also selectively remember the predic
tions that were coincidentally right, while the wrong ones slip out of their
memories (Marshall, 1976a). It is also possible that the effect of divining is to
randomise the routes or areas searched. Hunters know that animals learn the
habits of humans and adjust their behaviour accordingly. To guard against
the possibility of falling into a predictable routine, divining may introduce
an unpredictable component to the hunter's strategies (Laughlin. 1968).
Hunting magic
When a Ju/wasi hunter feels that he is down on his luck, he may ask
another hunter to touch up his first buck tattoos, by opening the old cuts
and rubbing fresh medicine into them. He may also discard his present
bow and quiver and build a new set. If a hunter has made a small kill and
wants to make a big one, he may rub the blood of the small kill on his
how in order to strengthen it. Other forms of hunting magic revolve around
the correct butchering and distribution of meat. The use of hunting magic
helps to restore and maintain the confidence of the hunter by giving him
the feeling that unseen forces are favourable to him (Lee, 1979). Even if
hunting magic has no real effect, the psychological effect on the hunter's
motivation may well increase his chances of success.
Myth and Religion
It is not possible to draw a clear distinction between the scientific knowledge
and myth of Kalahari hunter-gatherers. Fundamental similarities occur in the
nature of science and myth. The line of demarcation between science and
metaphysics cannot be drawn too sharply, and it may be argued that most
scientific theories originate in myth (Popper, 1963). Science is much clo�er
to myth than scientific philosophy rna y be prepared to admit and the two
Non-scientific A�pects of Hunting
overlap in many ways (Feyerabend, 1975). One of the more obvious ways
is where non-rational beliefs form part of the body of scientific knowledge
used to make predictions in the hunting context.
The /Gwi believe that some species possess knowledge that transcends
that of humans. The bateleur eagle ( Terathopius ecaudatus) is believed to
know when a hunter will he successful and will hover above him, thereby
acting as an omen of sure success. Some steenbok (Raphicerus campestris)
are thought to possess a magical means of protecting themselves from
a hunter's arrows, while the duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia), is believed to
practise sorcery against its animal enemies and even against conspecific
rivals. Baboons, because of their legendary love of trickery and teasing, are
believed to eavesdrop on hunters and to pass on their plans to the intended
prey animals (Silberhauer, 1981 ).
A number of irrational beliefs about animals may be enumerated, but
in general these seem to play a small role in the hunter's interaction with
animals (Blurton Jones and Kanner, 1976). It can he expected that rational
scientific knowledge will be relatively more important, since the success of
the hum depends on its predictive value. However, irrational beliefs may
well affect the outcome of a hunt. The sight of a hovering bateleur eagle
may motivate a hunter, thereby increasing his chances of success. Or the
belief in the steenhok's magical means of avoiding arrows may cause the
hunter to rake extra care when stalking it. thereby increasing his chances
of shooting it.
Cultural traditions vary greatly among the various Khoisan group�. �o
that a complex, interpenetrating patchwork of systems of belief is spread
over large areas. Religion and folklore can only he discussed by referring
to specific groups, specific places and historical rimes. There is not only
a diversity of belief between groups, but also within single groups. This
diversity is partly due to the impact that outstanding individuals may ex
ercise on local traditions. These are then further complicated by outside
influences (Biesele, 1978).
Yet all story traditions of Khoisan hunter-gatherers are homogeneous in
one important respect: all animals were formerly people and only later be
came animals. Stories deal with animals in their human aspect, though the
characters already possess traits that will be typical of their animal aspect.
The characters may turn into animals when they find themselves in situations
where they need their animal powers. Such stories thus often account for
the origins of different species (Biesele, 1976; 1978; Blurton Jones and Kon
ner, 1976). Although this account of the origin of animal species may seem
peculiar from a modern evolutionary point of view, it is quite plausible from
the trackers' point of view. We have seen that the trackers identify them
selves with that animal by thinking what they would do if they became that
animal. It follows that an animal, with its human characteristics attributed to
it by hunters in their anthropomorphic reconstruction of animal behaviour,
once u•as human and acquired animal characteristics when it needed them.
The religious beliefs of hunter-gatherers are central to their world-view
in that such beliefs articulate their diverse areas of knowledge and belief
in a coherent whole. The same variation exists in the details of their reli
gious beliefs, as exists in the details of their general knowledge. Yet most
groups of Khoisan hunter-gatherers believe in a greater and a lesser god.
In general the greater god is regarded as a supreme good being and the
creator. It is omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal and omniscient. It is known
to be anthropomorphic, or at least the human shape is one of the shapes it
assumes. Its human characteristics, however, are only part of its identity, the
totality of which is beyond human comprehension. The lesser god is treach
erous and vengeful. While good fortune is usually attributed to the will of
the greater god, misfortune is attributed to the lesser god (Silberbauer, 1981;
Biesele, 1978).
Hunter-gatherers are pragmatic and realistic in their outlook on the world.
The religious beliefs of the !X6, for example, are not characterbed by fear,
intimidation or haunting. When !X6 hunters fear something, that fear is well
founded. They fear things which they know are dangerous, such as snakes,
leopards or lions. All phenomena which they cannot readily understand
are attributed to the will of the greater god. The !X6 are aware of their
own limitations and ignorance of things, thereby exhibiting a deep sen�e of
religious humility (Heinz, 1978a).
Religious belief is so fundamental to the hunters' way of thinking that
it cannot be separated from hunting itself. At the end of the day, if they
have had no luck in tracking down an animal, !X6 hunters will say that the
greater god did not "give" them an animal that day. If, on the other hand,
they have had a successful hunt, they will say that the greater god was good
to them.
The Fundamentals of Tracking
8
Principles of Tracking
Spoor Information
Before going out on a hunt, hunters discuss all the information at their
disposal dnd work out a strategy that will maximise their chances of success.
With a detailed knowledge of the country, they will be able to identify areas
regularly visited by animals, such as waterholes, pans, dense thickets and the
animal paths that connect them. Their knowledge of the habits of animals
will also enable them to predict what their movement may be and at what
times they may visit certain areas. They will discuss hunts of the recent
and distant past, and apply the knowledge they have gained from them.
Each hunt is therefore a continuation of previous hunts, taking advantage
of experience gained over many years.
Interpretation of spoor on recent outings may also enable the hunters
to identify favoured feeding grounds and resting places. These may be
indicated by the signs of animals visiting the same places repeatedly. On
each outing the trackers will systematically take note of all signs of animal
movement, identifying all spoor and making an estimate of the animal's size,
sex, the age of the spoor, where it came from, how fast it was moving and
where it was going. All information on recent animal movements, gained
from their own as well as others' observations, will be taken into account
when predicting the whereabouts of the most favoured quarry.
In selecting a quarry, hunters will not only take into account its size, and
therefore the meat yield, but also the ease or difficulty with which it can
be captured, that is, the amount of energy that will be expended to gain
a certain meat yield. When setting out, hunters may have several working
leads based on recent tracks. Once they have set out, however. they may
change their initial strategy as new information is gathered to follow up a
more promising lead.
Recognition of signs
The city dweller may find it difficult to appreciate the subtlety and re
finement of the tracker's perception of signs. In cities, "signs" (such as in
advertising, clothing, noise, etc.) all compete with each other for one's at
tention in an artificial environment. This results in a blunting of the senses,
so people lose their sensitivity to their environment. In contrast, animals in
nature have evolved to be inconspicuous and tracks and signs are all very
subtle, so the tracker must develop a sensitivity to the environment The
tracker's ability to recognise and interpret natural signs may therefore seem
quite uncanny to the uninitiated city dweller.
To be able to recognise signs the tracker must know what to look for and
where to look. Someone who is not familiar with spoor may not recognise
them, even when looking straight at them. It may seem as if no signs are
present at all. For example, when tracking through grass, trackers will look
for trampled grass, or if the ground is covered with pebbles, they will look
for pebbles displaced from their sockets. To recognise a specific animal's
spoor, the trackers will look for signs characteristic of that animal.
In order to recognise slight disturbances in nature, trackers must know the
pattern of undisturbed nature. They must be familiar with the terrain, the
ground and the vegetation in its natural state. Only when they are familiar
with all these aspects will they be able to recognise very subtle disturbances
in it. For example, a disturbance may be revealed by colour differences of
overturned pebbles, stones and leaves, whose underside is usually darker
than the sun-bleached top side.
In order to recognise a specific sign, trackers may have a preconceived
image of a typical sign. Such a typical sign may be defined by certain
characteristics which enable the trackers to recognise specific patterns in
signs with corresponding characteristics. Without such preconceived images
many signs may be overlooked, but with a preconceived image of a specific
animal's spoor in mind, trackers may tend to "recognise" spoor in markings
that may be made by another animal, or even in random marking�. Their
minds will be prejudiced to see what they want to see, so in order to avoid
making such errors they must be careful not to make decisions too soon.
Since decisions taken at a glance can often be erroneous, trackers need
to take time to study new signs in detail when they are first encountered.
While the existence of preconceived images may help to recognise signs,
the tracker needs to avoid the preconditioned tendency to look for one
set of phenomena in the environment to the exclusion of all others. If
trackers go out with the intention of seeing a particular set of phenomena,
that intention will shut their minds off from everything else (Brown, 1983).
This is illustrated by naturalists who have trained themselves to detect the
smallest signs of a particular speciality but who miss almost everything else.
Trackers need to vary their vision in order to see new things.
The same principle applies to spotting animals. Animals that are well cam
ouflaged will not easily be seen by the untrained eye. Only if trackers know
what to look for, will they recognise the animal. The shape of an animal
is defined by the shadows which contrast with the highlighted parts. To
make them inconspicuous their body shapes are broken up by contrasting
colours. While one naturally tends to look at dense cover, one should make
a positive effort to look through the cover to recognise the animal behind
it. A technique for detecting animal movement involves looking towards the
horizon and allowing your vision to "spread out". Instead of focussing on a
single object, allow the eyes to soften and take in everything in a wide semi
sphere, thereby increasing your field of vision. Everything is a little fuzzy
because your eyes are not focussed, but they are much more sensitive to
movement. To identify a movement, you simply focus on it (Brown, 1983).
Trackers will always try to identify the trail positively by �orne distinguish
ing mark or mannerism in order not to lose it in any similar spoor. They will
look for such features in the footprints as well as for an individual manner
of walking. Often the hoofs of antelope may be broken or have chipped
edges, or they may leave a characteristic scuff mark as they walk. The ex
perienced tracker will memorise a spoor and be able to distinguish that
individual animal's spoor from others. When following a spoor, a tracker
will walk next to it, not on it, taking care not to spoil the trail so that it can
easily be found agdin if the spoor is lost.
The shadows cast by ridges in the spoor show up best if the spoor is kept
between the tracker and the sun. When the sun casts its light from a position
ahead of the spoor, the shadows cast by small ridges and indentations in
the spoor will be clearly visible. When the sun casts its light from a position
behind the tracker, however, these shadows will be hidden by the ridges
that cast them. Tracking is also easiest in the morning and late afternoon,
since the shadows cast by the ridges in the spoor are longer and stand
out better than at or near midday. As the sun moves higher in the sky,
the shadows grow shorter. At midday, spoor may cast no shadows at all,
making them difficult to see in the glare of the sunlight (Grainger, 1967).
Trackers will never look down at their feet if they can help it, since this will
slow them down. By looking up, well ahead of themselves (approximately
five to 10 m depending on the terrain) they are able to track much faster
and with greater ease. Unless they need to study the spoor more closely,
they do not examine every sign. If they see a sign 10 m ahead, they can
ignore the intervening signs and continue to look for spoor further ahead.
While looking well ahead, however, trackers must be careful not to miss a
sudden change in direction which the trail might take. Over difficult terrain
it may not be possible to see signs well ahead, so the trackers will have to
look at the ground in front of them and move more slowly. Trackers must
also avoid concentrating all their attention on the tracks, thereby ignoring
everything around them. Tracking requires intermittent attention, a constant
refocussing between minute detail of the track and the whole pattern of the
environment (Brown, 1978).
Factors that determine the degree of skill required to recognise, identify
and interpret spoor are the information content of signs, the sparseness
of signs and the number of proximate signs. The information content of
a sign can be defined as the amount of information that can be derived
from it. Well-defined footprints in damp, soft ground may provide detailed
information on the identity, sex, size, mass, age, condition and activities of
an animal; a barely perceptible scuff mark on hard substrate may indicate
nothing more than the fact that some disturbance has occurred. Inhibiting
factors on the information content of signs include: the relative hardness of
the substrate; the presence of loose sand; the density of vegetation cover;
and the action of wind and rain.
The sparseness of signs depends on the substrate, vegetation and weather
conditions. On soft, barren substrate every footprint may be clearly defined
and it would not require much skill simply to follow the trail. On harder
substrate, footprints may not be well defined, while on very hard substrate
or on a rocky surface, spoor may be hardly perceptible at all. While foot
prints are more difficult to see on ground covered with vegetation than on
relatively barren ground, depending on the density of the vegetation cover,
signs in the vegetation itself may indicate the animal's route. The type of
vegetation may also determine the sparseness of signs. While it may he easy
to distinguish an animal's trail through long grass, it may he very difficult to
recognise signs in some types of scrubs, such as in fynbos. The sparseness
of signs also depends on the extent to which signs have been obliterated
by wind or rain.
Proximate signs may be defined as signs made by other animals in the
vicinity of the spoor of the quarry. These signs may have been made be
fore, at the same time, or after the spoor of the quarry was made, and if
superimposed onto each other could give an indication of the age of the
quarry's spoor. While the tracker may benefit from superimposed spoor,
too many proximate signs may sometimes make tracking more difficult.
On substrate where footprints are not well defined or where the ground is
densely covered with vegetation, the quarry's spoor may he confused with
similar proximate signs. In difficult terrain with high animal densities it may
he very difficult to distinguish the quarry's spoor from proxim,ue signs. Yet
in such areas it may, however, not be necessary to locate animals by means
of tracking, since the chances are that the hunter will see an animal sooner
or later by simply scanning the area. It would still be more difficult, though,
to track down the wounded animal.
Anticipation and prediction
Although trackers may follow a trail simply by looking for one sign after
the other, this can become so time-consuming that they mJy never catch
up with their quarry. Unless the animal is resting in the midday heat, it may
be moving on at a steady pace, and the trackers must therefore progress Jt
a much faster pace in order to overtake it. Instead of looking for one sign
at a time, the trackers can place themselves in the position of their quarry
in order to anticipate the route it may have taken. They can then decide
in advance where they can expect to find signs, instead of wasting time
looking for them. The trackers may look for spoor in obvious places such
as openings between bushes. In thick bushes they may look for the most
accessible throughways. Where the spoor crosses Jn open clearing, they
may look for access ways on the other side of the clearing. If the animal
has been moving from shade to shade, they may look for spoor in the shade
ahead.
Animals usually make use of a network of paths to move from one locality
to another. If it is clear that an animal has been using a particular path, the
path may simply he followed up to a point where it forks into two or more
paths, or where the animal has left the path. Where one of several paths
may have heen used, the trackers must of course determine which path that
specific animal used. This may not always be easy, since many animals may
use the same paths.
When a herd is followed, it is not necessary to follow one specific an
imal. A herd may use several paths running more or less parallel to one
another. As long as any one of the animals is followed, the movement of
the whole herd may he determined. If the trackers lose the spoor of one,
they can still pick up the spoor of another. In areas of high animal densi
ties that have much-used interlinking animal paths it may seem impossible
to follow tracks. Once tracks have been located on a specific path, how
ever, it is possible to follow the path even though no further tracks may be
seen. By looking to either �ide of the path, the trackers can establish if the
animal has moved away from the path and they can then follow the new
trail (Williams, 1976).
When trackers come to hard, stony ground, where tracks are virtually
impossible to discern (apart from the odd small pebble that has been over
turned) they may move around the patch of hard ground in order to find the
spoor in softer ground (Williams, 1976). Should they lose the spoor, they
may first search obvious places for signs, choosing several likely access
ways through the bush in the general direction of movement. When several
trackers work together, they may simply fan out and quarter the ground
until someone finds the spoor. Experienced trackers are able to anticipate
more or less where the animal was going and will not waste time in one
spot looking for signs, hut will rather look further ahead.
Knowledge of the terrain and animal behaviour may also allow trackers to
save valuable time by predicting the animal's movements. Once the general
direction of movement is established and it is known that an animal path,
river or any other natural boundary lies ahead, they may leave the spoor
and move to these places and cut across the trail by sweeping back and
forth across the predicted direction in order to pick up tracks a considerable
distance ahead (Williams, 1976). If the animal has been moving in a straight
line at a steady pace, and it is known that there is a waterhole or pan
further ahead, the tracker may leave the spoor to look for signs of it at
the waterhole or pan. To be able to predict the movements of an animal,
trackers must know the animal and its environment to such an extent that
they can identify themselves with that animal. They must be able to visualise
how the animal was moving around, and place themselves in its position.
Since signs may he fractional or partly obliterated, it is not always pos
sible to make a complete reconstruction of the animal's movements and
activities based on spoor evidence alone. Trackers may therefore have to
create a working hypothesis in which spoor evidence is supplemented with
hypothetical assumptions based not only on their knowledge of animal
behaviour, but also on their creative ability to solve new problems and dis
cover new information. The working hypothesis may be a reconstruct.ion
of what the animal was doing, how fast it was moving, when it was there,
where it was going to and where it might be at that time (Blurton Jones and
Konner, 1976). Such a working hypothesis may then enable the trackers to
predict the animal's movements. As new information is gathered, they may
have to revise their working hypothesis, creating a better reconstruction of
the animal's activities. Anticipating and predicting an animal's movements,
therefore, involves a continuous process of problem-solving, creating new
hypotheses and discovering new information.
Systematic and speculative tracking
Two fundamentally different types of tracking may be distinguished, namely
system.1tic tracking on the one hand, and speculative tracking on the other.
Systematic tracking involves the systematic gathering of information from
signs, until it provides a detailed indication of what the animal was do
ing and where it was going. In order to reconstruct the animal's activities,
the emphasis is primarily on gathering empirical evidence in the form of
spoor and other signs. Speculative tracking involves the creation of a work
ing hypothesis on the basis of initial interpretation of signs, a knowledge
of animal behaviour and a knowledge of the terrain. With a hypothetical
reconstruction of the animal's activities in mind, trackers then look for signs
where they expect to find them. The emphasis is primarily on specula
tion, looking for signs only to confirm or refute their expect.Hions. When
their expectations are confirmed, their hypothetical reconstructions are re
inforced. When their expectations prove to be incorrect, they must revise
their working hypotheses and investigate other alternatives.
In systematic tracking, tr.1ckers do not go beyond the evidence of signs
and they do not conjecture possibilities which they have not experienced
before. Their anticipation and prediction of the spoor are based on repeated
experience of similar situations and therefore they do not predict anything
new. Even when a prediction is based on experience, however, it may
not necessarily be correct in that particular instance. Systematic tracking is
essentially based on inductive-deductive reasoning (see Chapter 1 1 ).
In �peculative tracking the trackers go beyond the evidence of signs. An
ticipation and prediction are based on imaginative preconceptions. They
conjecture possibilities which are either confirmed or refuted. Even when
their expectations are confirmed, this does not imply that their hypotheses
are correct, since they may still prove to be incorrect. When their expec
tations prove to be incorrect, a process of negative feedback takes place,
in which they modify their working hypotheses to correspond with spoor
evidence. Speculative tracking involves a continuous process of conjecture
and refutation .1nd is based on hypothetico-deductive reasoning (see Chap
ter 1 1).
Systematic tracking involves a cautious approach. Since the tr.1ckers do
not go beyond direct evidence, the chances of losing the spoor are small.
Even anticipation and prediction do not involve a great risk of losing the
spoor, since they are based on repeated experience. Provided the trackers
can progress fast enough, they will eventually overtake their quarry. While
systematic tracking may be very efficient in relatively easy terrain, it may
prove to be very time-consuming in difficult terrain.
Speculative tracking, on the other hand, requires a bold approach. An
ticipating the animal's movements, by looking at the terrain ahead and
identifying themselves with the animal on the basis of their knowledge of
the animal's behaviour, the trackers may follow an imaginary route, saving
much time by only looking for signs where they expect to find them. By
predicting where the animal may have been going, the trackers can leave
the spoor, take a short cut, and look for the spoor further ahead. While
speculative tracking may save much time, thereby increasing the chances
of overtaking the animal, it nevertheless involves a much greater risk of
losing the spoor and much time may be wasted in finding it again. Alterna
tively, systematic tracking may prove to be so time-consuming in difficult
terrain, that it may be more efficient to risk losing the spoor occasionally
for the time that can be saved by speculative tracking.
In principle, there is a fundamental difference between systematic and
speculative tracking. In practice, however, they are complementary, and a
trdcker may apply both types of tracking, so that there may not always be
a clear distinction between the two. Ideally, a tracker should know to what
extent either systematic or speculative tracking, or a combination of both,
would be most efficient in particular circumstances. In very easy terrain,
systematic tracking may be so quick that it may not be worth risking losing
the spoor by speculation. In very difficult terrain, a tracker may not get very
far with systematic tracking, so that speculative tracking may be the only
way to overtake the quarry. Usually tracking conditions will vary between
these two extremes, requiring an optimal combination of both types of
tracking.
While systematic and speculative tracking are two complementary types
of tracking, individual trackers may, under the same circumstances, tend to
be either more systematic or more speculative (see, for example, Chapter 6).
The difference in approach by individual trackers may be the product of
different types of scientific minds.
Modern scientists may broadly be divided into two types: systematic and
speculative. This classification is arbitrary, however, since the majority of
scientists probably fall somewhere between the two extremes, combining
characteristics of both types. The systematic scientist works by gradual,
systematic steps, accumulating data until a generalisation or hypothesis is
obvious. Discovery of new facts is achieved through patience and manual
dexterity. Although systematic scientists may have a high intelligence which
enables them to classify, reason and deduce, they may not have much
creative originality. In contrast, speculative scientists create a hypothesis first
or early in the investigation, and then test it by experiment. Making bold
guesses they work largely by intuition, go beyond generalisation of observed
facts, and only then call on logic and reason to confirm the findings. While
speculative scientists may be highly creative, they may not he storehouses
of knowledge and may not necessarily be highly intelligent in the usual
sense. Systematic and speculative types of minds represent extremes and
most scientists probably combine some characteristics of hoth. Both types
of scientists are necessary, for they tend to have complementary roles in the
advancement of science (Beveridge, 1950).
The way systematic and speculative trackers acquire new knowledge may
be analogous to the way modern scientists do. Systematic trackers may
develop their scientific knowledge by systematically accumulating empirical
data based on spoor evidence and direct observation of animal behaviour.
Speculative trackers may develop their scientific knowledge by first creating
hypotheses and then looking for spoor evidence to support their theory.
Though some trackers may be inclined to be more systematic and others
more speculative, most trackers would probably combine characteristics of
both, varying from one extreme to the other.
In the hunting process systematic and speculative trackers may com
plement one another. When hunting in teams of two or more trackers,
systematic and speculative trackers may be in constant dialogue, so that
some form of consensus is reached (see, for example, Chapter 6). Such a
consensus may represent an optimal combination of the two extremes, but
trackers do not always agree on their interpretations of spoor or on the hest
strategy to adopt.
Systematic and speculative trackers may also have complementary roles
in advancing and maintaining the shared pool of scientific knowledge of a
band or alliance of bands. Systematic trackers, on the one hand, may be able
to accumulate and retain more knowledge, including knowledge gained
from others. Speculative trackers, on the other hand, may he creative inno
vators, developing new knowledge, especially in changing circumstances,
or rediscovering knowledge that may have been lost.
Stealth
When the spoor is still old and the animal so far ahead of the trackers that it
will not be alerted in any case, speed is more important than stealth. Moving
cautiously at this stage would only waste time, making it difficult to catch
up with the animal, which may be moving further ahead at a steady pace.
When the spoor is very fresh, however, and the animal may he close by,
the hunters must slow down and move as stealthily as possible. Moving as
quietly as they can, hunters will avoid stepping on dry leaves and twigs, and
take great care when moving through dry grass. Being barefoot, they are
able not only to tread softly, but can feel any dry leaves or twigs underfoot.
Their soft tread may also prevent animals being alerted by vibrations through
the ground. When a few hunters work together, they communicate with
hand signals. When they cannot see one another, they may use bird calls
and whistling. Once the animal has been sighted, they may come together
and discuss their strategy in soft whispers.
If the hunters are in close proximity to the animal, it is important that they
remain downwind of it, that is, in a position where the wind i'i blowing
away from the animal in the direction of the hunters. It is also important
that their quarry does not have the opportunity to cross their tracks, since
the lingering human scent will alert it (Wynne-Jones, 1980). Most animals
prefer to keep the wind in their faces when travelling so that they can scent
danger ahead of them. The trackers will therefore usually be downwind
from them as they approach from behind. If the wind direction becomes
unfavourable, however, the hunters may have to leave the spoor to search
for their quarry from the downwind side. !Xo hunters maintain that if a fly
sits on a hunter, it can carry his scent to his quarry, thereby alerting it.
As the hunters close in on their quarry, they must make sure that they see
it before it sees them. !Xo trackers maintain that an animal keeps looking
back down its own trail, always on the alert for danger from behind. When
the spoor is very fresh, the hunters may have to leave the spoor so that the
animal does not see them first. Animals usually rest facing downwind, so
that they can see danger approaching from the downwind side, while they
can smell danger coming from behind. An animal may also double back
on its spoor and circle downwind before settling down to rest. A predator
following its trail will move past the resting animal on the upwind side
before realising that the animal has doubled back, so the resting animal will
smell the predator in time to make its escape.
When stalking an animal, hunters will use the cover of bushes, going
down on their hands and knees where necessary. In long grass they will go
down on their stomachs, pulling themselves forward with their elbows. The
most important thing is not to attract attention by sudden movements. The
hunters will take their time, moving slowly when the animal is not looking,
and not moving when the animal is looking in their direction. When stalking
their quarry, hunters must also be careful not to disturb other animals. A
disturbed animal will give its alarm signal, thereby alerting all animals in
the vicinity, including the hunters' quarry.
9
Classification of Signs
In the narrowest sense of the word .. spoor" simply means '"footprint", hut
in tracking it has a much wider meaning. including all signs found on
the ground or indicated by disturbed vegetation. Tracking also involves
signs such as scent, urine and faeces, saliva, pellets, feeding signs, vocal
and other auditory signs, visual signs. incidental signs, circumstantial signs,
blood spoor, skeletal signs, paths, homes and shelters. Spoor are not con
fined to living creatures. Leaves and twigs rolling in the wind, long grass
sweeping the ground or dislodged stones rolling down a steep slope leave
their distinctive spoor. Markings left by implements, weapons or objects
may indicate the activiti('S of the persons who used them, and vehicles also
leave tracks.
Spoor
Spoor includes a wide range of signs, from obvious footprints, which pro
vide detailed information on the identity and activities of an animal, to very
subtle signs which may indicate no more than that �ome disturbance has oc
curred. Although it provides less information than ground spoor, disturbed
vegetation may provide a quicker means of tracking. Long grass bent over,
for example. can be seen from a considerable distance as the light is re
flected from it, and can he followed at a relatively high speed. Signs of
spoor may vary considerably with terrain, weather conditions, season, time
of day and age.
Clear footprints in soft ground or a thin layer of fine snow, provide the
most detailed information on the identity and activities of an animal or
person. Footprints vary depending on the substrate on which they were
made and the speed at which the animal was moving. Perfectly clear prints
are seldom found and usually only fragments of prints or partially obliterated
prints are evident. Fresh footprints usually show up slightly darker in colour
than the surrounding ground. On hard ground where there may be no
definite indentations, footprints may show up as shiny patches of dirt due
to the change of reflective properties of the ground. Scuff marks in the shape
of scraped patches normally stand out as a different shade from the surface
around it. These may occur with accidental scuffing or abrupt turning of
the foot to create pivot marks on the ground. In walking across ground and
then stepping on rocks, some dirt may be transferred onto the rocks.
Wind and rain building up soil deposits around a pebble will form a
little crater which becomes visible when the pebble is dislodged from its
socket. If a pebble has been kicked out, it can also give an indication of
the direction of movement. A freshly turned pebble or stone will generally
appear different in colour, usually darker, from surrounding stones. A pebble
that has been stepped on will be embedded in the ground. If d small twig
or dry branch is stepped on a depression in the ground directly beneath
it will normally be visible. Dead twigs and branches on the ground may
be broken or cracked. To determine if the fracture is recent or old, similar
twigs can be broken and compared. In contrast to a fresh break, an old
break will appear dull and weathered (Robbins, 1977).
A freshly turned dry leaf will appear darker in colour as the shaded part
is exposed, compared to the sun-bleached surrounding leaves. Some mud
may also cling to the side that was underneath. When the ground is covered
with dry leaves, a trail of crushed leaves may he left behind. Where leaves
lie thick and impressions made on them do not show at all. it may he
possible to scrape them aside to examine the earth underneath. Where
moss is present, there may be signs of its having been scraped off trees,
exposed roots or rocks. It may be in the form of a scuff mark, a bruise, or
it may be completely scraped off.
A very distinct path will be made as tall grass or similar vegetation is
bent in the direction of travel. Grass trampled or flattened presents a shiny
surface to the sun which makes the route followed a lighter colour than
the surrounding grass. The easiest spoor to follow are those made through
patches of tall grass which have not been used before. When an animal
moves through dense bush or reeds. branches or reeds will be pulled in the
direction of travel and some interlacing may occur when they are released.
Leaves turned upward will also be lighter coloured. Soft, green vegetation
may be bruised or cut and branches or twigs may he bent or broken.
Displaced at an angle, the colour of bent or broken vegetation may have
different reflective properties. Bark may also be scratched or chipped.
Where dew or frost occurs, or after rain, the uniform distribution of
droplets or ice will present a shiny surface. An animal will leave a dis
tinct path that will show up as a dark line where the drops or ice have been
shed. When an animal crossing a stream has to step into the water, water
or wet mud may be displaced from the stream. The direction of travel is
indicated by the wet marks on the ground where the animal has left the
stream. The presence of animals which spend most of their time in the river,
e.g. otters, may be detected by splash marks or even wet paw m·-trks on the
rocks. Since these signs are soon lost as the water is evaporated by the sun
or wind, they usually indicate that the animal is still in the near vicinity. If
the river bottom can be seen, disturbed mud or overturned rocks or stones
may be detected. Close to the water's edge, soft mud may also leave dear
impressions.
Classification of Signs
Broken cobwebs may indicate that an animal moved through an opening
between hushes, or conversely, cobwebs across an opening indicate than
an animal did not move through it. Disused holes in the ground are usually
indicated hy cobwebs in the opening, while occupied holes will he clean.
Scent
Animals produce secretions that leave a trail perceptible to the sense of
smell. Many species have special glands which produce a secretion with a
scent which is not only specific to the species, but also to the individual
animal. These glands may be concentrated in special scent organs on the
animal's feet, from where the scent is transferred to the tracks. They may
also have scent organs on the head or body. often around the tail region,
which may he used to deposit scent at specific places by rubbing it on to
vegetation or on to the ground. Scent marking can also be carried out with
urine and faeces (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972).
Scent plays an important role in the lives of animals. In the breeding
season males are attracted to females by special odours. The males of
many species scent-mark their territories with urine to warn other males.
All animals that track follow scent, while humans, who do not have a
good sense of smell, have to use dogs. Scent is influenced by temperature
and weather conditions. Cool, calm conditions may help to preserve scent,
whiie heat and wind may erase the scent trail. Conditions are better in
the morning and evening than at midday, and also better in winter than in
summer. Wet ground is better than dry ground, hut rain may obliterate scent
(Heinz, 1978a). Scent also diminishes with time, so that dogs must follow a
relatively fresh trail.
When very close to the animals, experienced trackers can sometimes
smell and identify animals such as elephant, buffalo, wildebeest, zebra,
waterhuck, giraffe and lion before they have seen the animals (Young, 1986).
After it has rained for a few days, when the air is very humid, a tracker may
also be able to scent animals if the wind is right (Heinz, 1978a). Fresh
droppings and urine also have a distinctive smell.
Urine andfaeces
Fresh urine and faeces, frequently indicated by flies and dung-beetles, often
help to identify spoor, especially if the ground is too hard to provide clear
footprints. It can also give an indication of the age of the spoor. It should be
kept in mind that the faeces of a single species may vary considerably from
area to area, depending on the diet of the animal, its size and condition,
the time of the year and the age of the faeces.
According to Bang and Dahlstrom 0972), the position of the urine patch
relative to the footprints can indicate the sex of the animal. An antelope
urinates with the hind legs straddled, which indicates where the animal
was standing. The urine patch of the male will be between the tracks of
the forefeet and hind feet, whereas that of the female will be between or
behind the hind feet tracks. The relative position of a urine patch to faeces
deposited at the same time can also indicate the sex of the animal. Looking
at the footprints to determine the direction, a urine patch in front of the
faeces usually indicates a male, whereas a urine patch on top of or behind
the faeces, usually indicates a female.
A detailed examination of faeces will produce much information on what
the animal has been feeding on. Faeces consists of the indigestible parts
of the food, such as hair, feathers, bone splinters, pieces of chitin from
insects, undigested plant matter and mucus. The form and size of mammal
droppings are usually characteristic of a species. The size will also depend
on the animal's age, the droppings of young animals being smaller than
those of adults. The shape may also depend on the composition of the
food. Lush grass may produce a soft, sometimes liquid faeces, whereas dry
grass may produce hard, dry droppings. An animal's summer and winter
droppings may also exhibit a difference due not only to the composition of
the food, but also to the liquid content. In the dry season the liquid content
will be less and the droppings may be much smaller than in the wet season.
Droppings also shrink as they dry out, so that old droppings may be much
smaller than fresh droppings.
The droppings of herbivores are generally small and round, while those
of carnivores are often cylindrical or sausage-shaped, with a point at one
end. Since plant food has a relatively poor nutritional value, herbivores have
to eat large quantities, and therefore they produce large amounts of faeces
which usually betray their presence (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1 972). Meat, on
the other hand, has a high nutritional value and most of it can be utilised
by carnivores, which therefore produce much less faeces.
While many animals deposit their faeces at random, some use special
latrines where large quantities may accumulate. Some, like cats, bury their
faeces. Others use their faeces for scent to mark their territories, in which
case it may be deposited in an elevated position such as on a tree stump
or a rock so that the scent is effectively disseminated.
Saliva
Saliva may sometimes be seen on leaves where an animal has been feeding
or on the ground at a salt lick. Fresh cuds may also be found on the ground.
These signs may indicate that the spoor is very fresh, since it does not take
long for saliva to evaporate, especially on a hot day.
Pellets
Many birds regurgitate those parts of their food which they cannot digest in
compressed pellets covered with mucus. These may contain fur, feathers,
chitin from insects, bones, pieces of mollusc shell and undigested plant ma
terial. The diameter and shape of the pellets varies according to the species.
Some birds produce almost spherical pellets; others produce cylindrical pel
lets with one or both ends rounded or pointed. The consistency, which may
be firm or so loose that the pellet easily falls apart, depends on what the
bird has been eating. Since each species has certain food preferences the
Cla:o,""Si.fication of Signs
contents of the pellet may help to identify the species concerned. The lo
cation of the pellets will also indicate the preferred habitat of the species,
which may help to n.1rrow down the possibilities. Pellets are usually found
at the birds' roosting sites and nests, and sometimes in feeding areas (Bang
and Dahlstrom, 1972).
Feeding signs
A detailed knowledge of the diets of animals for a particular area and time
of the year can help a tracker to identify spoor from feeding signs. Diets
are very complex, however, and more than one animal can eat the same
food. The remain� left by large carnivores are usually also utilised hy smaller
carnivores and scavengers. Conversely, if the identity of the animal is already
known from footprints, then feeding signs can give an indication of what
that particular ..tnimal has been eating.
Feeding signs can also help when following a spoor. With regard to
browsers, if it is known for which bushes the antelope has a preference, the
tracker may leave the spoor and go to the next bush where the antelope
might have been feeding. Feeding elephants may leave a trail of broken
branches. Circling vultures can also help to locate feeding predators or a
wounded animal. When these vultures settle in a tree instead of on the
ground, the predator may still be feeding (Lyell, 1929) .
Since we have noted that herbivores have to feed often and i n large
amounts, they may have many feeding sites close to one another. Since
carnivores only need to eat a relatively small amount, the trail of a carnivore
must be followed for long distances before evidence of a kill site is found.
Most animals prefer to remain hidden when feeding, and may take their
food to a special feeding place where they can be safe while feeding. Some
animals may have feeding places out in the open. The larger carnivores, for
example, have nothing to fear, while animals such as squirrels may position
themselves where they can detect an approaching enemy at a distance.
Apart from the choice of food, evidence in the form of marks left by
the teeth or beak and the methods of handling the food may also give an
indication of the animal involved. The location of the feeding site will also
be in the preferred habitat of the species concerned. Some feeding signs,
such as the debarking of trees, may even be identified after some years, but
feeding signs dre usually obliterated relatively quickly.
Vocal and other auditory signs
Vocal signs such as alarm calls can warn either the hunters or their quarry
of danger. Since an alarm call usually alerts all other animals in the vicin
ity, hunters must be careful not to let other animals betray their presence.
The grey Iourie, Corythaixoides concolor, or "go-away" bird (shown oppo
site page 1 1 1 ), a source of annoyance to hunters, utters a loud drawn-out
"go-away" call when disturbed, and will often follow or fly ahead of in
truders, thus alarming the quarry (Grainger, 1967). Baboons may alert other
animals by loud barks, or a kudu may give a short bark before running
off. Guineafowl may also frighten animals by rising and clacking. In order
to avoid dangerous situations, it is important for hunters to recognise the
sounds made by hunting or feeding lions, or when lions are mating or have
cubs with them (Young, 1985) . A disturbance may also be indicated by
the absence of vocal signs, such as the sudden silence of chirping crickets.
Other auditory signs may include rustling grass or bushes, crushing leaves,
breaking twigs and branches, stones and pehbles kicked in flight, splashing
water or galloping hoofs. Depending on the quality of the sound, it may
be possible to distinguish between a light or heavy animal, or one that is
moving slowly or swiftly. A soft rustling sound in the gr:tss may indicate a
snake hidden from view. A sudden rustling of bushes may indicate a fleeing
animal. A slow, heavy rustling of reeds at the water's edge may indicate a
crocodile. Cupping one's hands behind one's ears can help to isolate and
amplify particular sounds.
Visual signs
Apart from the actual sighting of an animal itself, visual signs will include all
signs of movement where the animal may be hidden from view. An animal's
presence may be betrayed by moving bushes or long grass. A fleeing animal
may only be detected by the sudden movement of branches. \X1hen the
slow rustling sound of a crocodile in tall reeds is heard, its position may
be indicated by the moving tips of the reeds. The presence of a crocodile
under water can be detected by small bubbles rising to the surface.
Incidental signs
Incidental signs are signs which may not necessarily be associated with the
spoor in question. Such signs may include tufts of hair, feathers or porcupine
quills. It should be noted that, although tufts of hair or feathers may belong
to the animal in question, they may also have been blown there hy the
wind. Similarly porcupine quills found next to a spoor that is difficult to
identify, may not belong to that particular animal, but may have been lying
there for some time.
Circumstantial signs
Circumstantial signs are any indirect signs in the immediate vicinity of an
animal or person which may betray its presence. Such signs are usually seen
in the behaviour of other animals. Birds may betray the presence of hunters
to animals. Ox-peekers are most frequently found near large ungulates,
such as buffalo, eland and kudu, upon which they clamber about looking
for ticks and blood-sucking flies. When approached, they will fly up and
about, thus alarming the animals. Animals may become restless. BL�boons
will move in short sprints and make a lot of noise. Antelope and buffalo
often stand and stare at intruders. Birds may also indicate the presence of
snakes or dangerous animals such as a leopard or lion (Grainger, 1967).
Classification qf Signs
Blood spoor
A wounded animal may leave a "blood spoor" in the form of spots or drops
on the ground and vegetation. An indication of the height of the wound may
be given by marks on the surrounding shmbs. Blood from a flesh wound
or vein will be dark, while clear blood with air bubbles will come from the
lungs. A wound in the abdomen or intestines will be indicated by blood
with stomach contents. If the wound is only slight, blood spots will decrease
when bleeding slackens or stops and the animal will continue running. If
the animal's condition worsens ,md it decreases its speed, blood spots may
be closer together and gathered in pools (Wynne-Jones, 1980).
Skeletal signs
Skeletal signs indicate the remains of animals and can be identified by the
size and shape of the skull, the teeth and, if present, the horns. Skeletal
signs may also be the feeding signs of carnivores.
Territorial signs
Territorial boundaries may be scent-marked with urine, faeces or scent
transferred to bushes from special scent organs. Scent will not usually be
perceptible to humans, but territorial signs may be visible in the form of
latrines, pawing and horning of shmbbery. Some small antelope wipe their
preorbital glands on the tips of grass or twigs, leaving a black tarry �ecre
tion (Smithers, 19R3).
Paths
Most animals have a network of paths or runs which they follow most of the
time. Animals know these paths very well so that they can take flight along
them when disturbed. At night animals are guided by the scent created by
continuous use. Paths will always take the route that is easiest to follow, go
ing around obstacles. Several animal species may sometimes use the same
path or parts of it. They may also use paths and roads made by humans,
incorporating these into their own network of paths. Paths are usually most
distinct in the vicinity of good feeding places and especially around wa
terholes. In the immediate vicinity of a waterhole, paths are most distinct
as animal movement is concentrated towards it, forming a clearing around
the waterhole itself. Further away from the waterhole paths become less
distinct as they radiate outwards, branching off into smaller paths. Where
smaller paths join to form a larger path, or where small paths join up with
a main path, the large path usually points towards the waterhole. In heavily
wooded areas and forests, a network of paths are usually the only acces
sible routes that animals can follow through the thick undergrowth ( Bang
and Dahlstrom, 1972).
Homes and shelters
Most animals continually move their sleeping quarters, and may only have a
fixed home during the breeding season to protect the young. Some animals
do not even have fixed homes during the breeding season, the young
being capable of leaving their birth-place soon after they are born, and
are continually shifting the places where they sleep. Only a few animals
have a permanent home which they use throughout the year. Homes are
usually inconspicuous and in sheltered or inaccessible places so that they
are difficult to find. In the breeding season they may be betrayed by the
activities of the adults bringing food for the young. They may also he
detected by tracking the animal's trail until it eventually reaches the home
or shelter (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972).
The most common homes found are birds' nests. They are usually well
sheltered among the leaves of trees and bushes or in ground vegetation.
Nests of different species are characterised by their position, size, struc
ture and materials used and vary considerably in appearance. Some small
mammals build their homes in vegetation and may look very much like
birds' nesb. Squirrels build their drays in trees, usually close to the trunk.
They are spherical and consist of loosely plaited twigs lined with grass or
leaves (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972).
Animals which do not construct homes or shelters, and simply lie down to
rest in a sheltered place, often leave a depression with distinct impressions
of the animal's limbs and body. The size of the depression, together with
other signs such as footprints and droppings may give an indication of the
animal that was resting there. Hares create distinctive forms in sheltered
places in long grass or next to bushes. The hare scrapes away the leaves
and then lies down in a shallow depression which makes the hare very
difficult to detect (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972).
Many animals make their homes in the ground, often with a system of
burrows. These may have a main entrance as well as an escape exit. Un
derground burrows may sometimes be revealed by heaps of excavated soil,
such as mole hills. Homes may consist of an extended network of burrows,
housing a whole colony of animals, such as suricates or ground squirrels.
Many burrowers, like antbears, play an important ecological role in that their
disused holes are often used by other animals for shelter. The occupant of
a burrow may be identified by looking at the size of the entrance hole,
its position, the method used to remove excavated soil, as well as tracks
and droppings in front of and inside the entrance. An occupied burrow will
show fresh signs of use, while a disused burrow will have fallen leaves
collected in the entrance, cobwebs spun across the opening, or it may be
overgrown (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972).
em
10
Spoor Interpretation
Variations between species
Different species can be identified by variations that are characteristic of
particular species. The most notable characteristics are usually determined
by functional and environmental adaptations of the feet. Similar species
may also be differentiated by subtle differences in the size and shape of
the feet. Understanding characteristic features of spoor enables the tracker
to analyse fractional or partly obliterated spoor which may otherwise he
difficult to identify and interpret.
Functional adaptations of feet may be for specific types of locomotion,
for use as tools or as weapons. Feet adapted for speed will have only a
small area in contact with the ground. The feet of predator� have soft pads
for stealth, some have sharp claws to hold down their prey, while others
have short, blunt claws for traction. Some animals have claws that are well
developed to act as digging tools, or that are adapted for grooming.
Feet may have specific environmental adaptations for different types of
terrestrial, aquatic or arboreal environments. Feet adapted to soft muddy
ground require a large contact area for support. In soft, sandy terrain sharp
pointed hoofs can dig into the sand to obtain a firm grip. while on firm
ground hoofs need to be rounder. On hard, rocky surfaces small rounded
hoofs can find small footholds and indentations for swift, agile movement.
Some animals, like otters, are adapted to semi-aquatic environments and are
able to move on dty ground and swim well. Other animals, like seals, are
mainly adapted to an aquatic environment. Animals adapted to swimming
usually have webbed toes to increase the area of their feet and therefore,
the resistance with which they pull themselves through the water. Animals
adapted to arboreal environments usually have sharp claws which dig into
the bark of trees, such as squirrels, or they have opposable toes which can
grasp branches, such as monkeys and birds. Some animals, such as cats, are
not only terrestrial, but are also able to climb trees.
Apart from functional and environmental adaptations, feet may also have
redundant features. The first toe of many species, for example, is reduced
and has become redundant, but may still show in the spoor.
Facing page: right fore and right hind lion spoor: top, adult female; middle, young male;
bottom. adult male. Scale in centimetres.
Heavier animals usually have larger feet to support their mass. but the
shape of the feet is also determined by the animal's hody structure. A
strongly huilt animal usually has broader feet and rounder toes. while an
animal with a slender body build has more narrow feet with slender toes.
This can be seen when comparing the spoor of the bat-eared fox with that
of the Cape fox, or the spoor of the caracal with that of the serval (see
below). It can also he seen in variations in the shape of hoofs of ungulates.
eo
RF
0
d
00
'•'
-
RF
RH
a
b
em
Right fore and right hind spoor of (a) serval and (b) caracal
The exact shape of an animal's foot need not have any specific function.
but may be an arbitrary shape determined by a random variation which has
become characteristic of a species. All adaptations are the result of random
variations that have been selected for specific functions. It is possible that
some random variations have not specifically been selected, hut have be
come characteristic of a species. The hoofs of antelope may have straight
sides, hollow sides or rounded sides, with no apparent reason why any one
variation should be an advantage. Yet these features may he characteristic
of a species.
Variations within a species
While species can be identified hy characteristic features, there also exist
individual variations within a specie�. The�e variations make it possible for
an experienced tracker to determine the sex as well as an approximate
estimation of the animal's age, size and mass. A tracker may also be able to
identify a specific individual animal by its spoor.
The sexes are usually distinguished by the fact that the males are usually
larger than the females, or with exceptions like the spotted hyaena and
some of the smaller antelopes, the females are larger than the males. This is
evident not only in the larger sizes of the spoor, but the more massive body
structure is evident in the fact that the forefeet are usually proportionally
broader. \X'hile the spoor of adult male.s are usually larger than that of
adult females, those of young males may be the same size as adult females,
hut the forefeet may be broader due to their more massive body structure
( see illustration facing page 1 25). The sexes may also be distinguished by
association. The spoor of an adult in close association with a young animal
is probably that of a female with her young. Nursery herds may be identified
by the presence of several young, or the absence of young may indicate
a bachelor herd. When a species is gregarious. a solitary individual will
probably be an adult male. The sex may also be determined by the relative
po�ition of the urine to the back feet or faeces ( see Chapter 9).
The age of an animal may be indicated by the size of the feet. The hoofs
of young antelope will also have sharper edges, while old individuals may
have blunted hoofs with chipped edges. With animals with padded feet,
younger individuals may have more rounded pads. Some animals have
specific breeding periods. If it is known at what time of year an animal
is born, a reasonably accurate estimate of its age can be made.
The size of an animal is proportional to the size of the spoor, while its
mass is indicated by the depth of the imprint. It should be noted that the
depth of the imprint also depends on the firmness of the ground. Two
animals may be the same size, in which case their spoor will be the same
size, but the one may he more massive and therefore make deeper imprints.
A small animal may have the same mass as a latger animal, but have smaller
spoor which will consequently leave deeper imprints. A larger animal must
be proportionally more massive than a smaller animal to leave the same
depth of imprints. The depth of the imprint is determined by the pressure
exerted. The pressure is equal to the weight of the animal divided by the
area in contact with the ground at any one time. The weight, or gravitational
force, is equal to the mass of the animal multiplied by the acceleration due to
gravity at the earth's surface. The depth of the imprint is also determined by
the pressure exerted due to the acceleration of the animal. When running or
jumping an animal will leave deeper imprints than when it is walking slowly.
An animal with a more massive body structure usually has broader footprints
than a more slender animal. The size of an animal will be determined by
its age, sex, as well as the normal variability in sizes in a population.
Apart from features characteristic to the species, there also exist random
variations within the species which may vary from individual to individual.
The exact shape of every individual is unique so that it is, in principle, pos
sible to identify an individual animal. In practise this requires considerable
experience, and is usually only possible with large anim.1ls. With elephant
and rhinoceros it is easy to identify an individual by the random pattern of
cracks underneath the feet.
The shape of feet may also be altered by environmental factors. In hard
terrain, hoofs of ungulates may be blunted by excessive wear, or in soft,
sandy terrain, they may grow elongated hoofs due to lack of natural wear.
Similarly, animals such as jackals may grow elongated claws in soft terrain
or their claws may be worn down in hard terrain. Accidental alteration may
also occur. A claw may be broken or lost Hoofs may be chipped or broken.
/
a
Soft ground
b
(a) The right fore footprint of a kudu on hard ground (solid line) and soft
ground (dashed line).
(b) Side view of a kudu hoof, showing those parts of the hoof that make
contact on hard ground and on soft ground.
Variations of an individual animars spoor
The shape of a footprint may vary considerably depending on the substrate.
In very soft ground an antelope's toes splay and the feet sink in to make
a longer imprint as the back of the feet also show in the spoor. On hard,
dusty ground the back of the feet may not show, so that the spoor is shorter.
The toes of padded feet are rounded in soft ground. hut will spread out on
firm ground to appear larger and different in shape. On very hard ground
only the tips or edges of hoofs may show, or only the claws of padded feet
may show. In soft sand a spoor loses definition and it requires considerable
experience to identify and interpret it.
Movement and activities also change the shape of spoor. The feet may
have slipped to create the impression of elongated toes. Twisting and drclg
ging of the feet may partly obliterate some of the features. The forefeet and
hind feet may be superimposed, so that the toes of one foot may be con
fused with that of another. When moving slowly an animal's toes may be
together, while they may splay out when running. The spoor also indicates
whether the animal was lying, sitting, standing, walking, trotting, running
or jumping. Different activities may be evident, such as digging, scratching,
eating, drinking, mating or fighting. The condition of the animal may also
be evident in the spoor. The spoor may also indicate whether the animal is
still fresh, tired, or injured.
Spoor of invertebrates
The snail moves hy waves of muscular contractions, moving from the front
to the hack of the foot. The contracting muscles push against the ground.
thereby pushing the hody fmwards. The snail slides forward over the slime
secreted by a gland at the front end of the foot. supported hy the edge of
the foot which acts like a ski (Kennis, 1969). The slime is usually still visible
long after it has dried, and presents a shiny surface.
The earthworm moves hy waves of muscular contractions which either
contract or stretch out the hody. When it contracts its hody, the front end of
the body is anchored hy hairs that are pointing backwards, while the rear
end slides forward. When it stretches out again, the rear end is anchored by
the hackward pointing hairs while the front end slides forward. To move
backwards the worm points the hairs forward and simply executes the same
movements (Kennis. 1969).
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caterpillar
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Examples of invertebrate spoor
The caterpillar moves in much the same way a� the earthworm, hut
anchors the front end of its body with its true legs and the rear end of
its body with the abdominal feet. The track usually shows the prints of
the pair of abdominal feet on the last segment. The Geometridae, also
known as loopers or measuring worms, crawl by looping their bodies when
the rear end is brought forward, and then stretching out the front end
again (Potgieter, du Plessis and Skaife, 1 97 1 >.
Millipedes have two pairs of legs to each segment and move slowly and
steadily in an almost straight path. The legs move forward in waves starting
with the front legs, as each leg is followed by the one behind it. Antlions
always move backwards, tail first, with their bodies just beneath the surface
of the sand. Their trails are visible as slight raised ridges on the sand, winding
in all directions as they search for suitable sites for their pits. Insects, which
have six legs, move the front and back legs of the one side together with the
middle legs of the other side. Their trail is characterised by groups of three
footprints on either side. The trails of scorpions, spiders and sun-spiders are
characterised by groups of four footprints on either side of the trail. Those
of scorpions are usually in tighter groups while those of spiders are more
spread out.
Spoor of Amphibians
The frog is adapted to the leaping mode of locomotion, mainly for leaping
to safety in water. The individual bones of the hind limb are long, and
when the frog is in the sitting position they are arranged in such a way that
they form an efficient system of levers. Upon contraction of the appropriate
muscles the entire limb is straightened, providing a powerful forward thrust
enabling it to jump a considerable distance. In toads the skeletal components
of the hind limb are less elongated so that they can only hop or run, while
in some the legs are so reduced that they can only walk or crawl. Frogs and
toads have four toes on each forefoot and five toes on edch hind foot. In
predominantly aquatic forms, which have webbing between the toes, the
lever system type of hind limb makes them powerful swimmers ( Potgieter,
du Plessis and Skaife, 1 970.
Spoor of Reptiles
The crocodile is amphibious and riparian and uses only the tail for propul
sion when swimming. On land it walks slowly, lifting its body from the
ground, and dragging its tail in the sand. It has five toes on the front feet
and four toes on the hind feet, the first toe being absent (Potgieter, du Ple�sis
and Skaife, 1 971 ).
Although lizards are usually distinguishable from snakes by the presence
of limbs, many lizards are limbless and resemble snakes in so many other
respects that they cannot be distinguished easily. The fore and hind feet have
five toes and although the limbs are generally well developed, many groups
show a transition to complete absence of limbs. The digits also show a wide
adaptation to environmental conditions and may be provided with sharp
claws for running or climbing on rough surfaces, e.g. agamas and leguans,
may be fringed or webbed for moving over soft, yielding sand, e.g. desert
living species, end in adhesive pads for climbing up smooth surfaces, e.g.
geckos, or be bound together to form two opposable bundles for grasping,
e.g. chameleons. Skinks, Scincidae, show every graduation from reduction
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undulatory spoor of a typical snake
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sidewmding spoor of the horned adder
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legless skink
rectilinear spoor of the puff adder
Spoor of reptiles
to complete ab�ence of limbs. e.g. the legless skink (Potgieter, du Plessis
and Skaife, 197 1 ) .
Lizards which have small limhs. progress hy throwing the hody from side
to side, thus advancing first one of a pair of limhs and then the other. As the
limhs develop in �ize and power, they take over an increasing proportion
of the function of locomotion and the contortions of the trunk are reduced.
Some lizards with large hind legs are quadrupedal when moving slowly, but
at high speed the forelegs are too small to equal the stride of the longer pair,
and the animal runs only on its hind legs, using the tail for balance. The
legless skink "swims" through loose sand with Jn undulating progression
in much the same way as snakes swim in water (Potgieter, du Plessis and
Skaife, 1971).
Snakes use their hodies for locomotion in either rectinilear or undulatory
progression. The fastest-moving species, such as the mamhas. tree snakes
and some of the gr3ss and sand snakes, do not exceed 8 km/h. The majority
of snakes cannot move more than about 6,5 km h, i.e. a man's hrisk walking
pdce. Although the speed of strike appears to be very fast, it is only between
12 and 16 km/h (FitzSimons, 1970).
Rectilinear or caterpillar progression is in practically a straight line and is
characteristic of heavy-hodied snakes such as pythons and adders when on
an unhurried, leisurely prowl. Forward movement is brought about by the
belly muscles moving the large ventral plates forward in alternative waves to
enable the overlapping posterior edges of the latter to obtain a hold on any
roughness of the ground so that the body is drawn forward over them. Many
burrowing snakes adopt a concertina variation of the caterpillar progression
for moving along underground tunnels. Certain arboreal species, such as
the Spotted Bush Snake and other tree snakes, have a broad belly and tail
shields strongly keeled or notched, which enables them to crawl up almost
vertical tree trunks by hooking on to the slightest of projections and pushing
the body upwards by caterpillar progression (FitzSimons, 1970).
In undulatory or serpentine progre�sion, movement is by a series of lat
eral undulations of waves from the front backwards, in which each outward
bend or curve pushes up against an uneven or rough surface and pushes
the snake forwards. This method of progression is normally effected by
most snakes, as well as pythons and adders when moving fast, and is much
faster than rectilinear or caterpillar progression. The sidewinding variation,
in which the body is lifted up from the ground in undulating motions, is
adopted by certain sand-living forms, such as Peringuey's adder and other
small desert-living adders. Most snakes, except perhaps certain burrowing
types, are excellent swimmers and move over the surface of the water in
the same undulating, serpentine fashion as adopted on the ground. Move
ment for snakes depends on a rough or uneven surface or substratum, and
forward movement is practically impossible on a very smooth or polished
surface (FitzSimons, 1970).
Of the land tortoises, family Testudinidae, two species of padlopers. the
Parrot-beaked tortoise, Homopus areolatus, and the Greater Padloper, Ho
m opus femora/is, have four claws on the fore and hind feet. All other tor
toises, including three species of padlopers, have five claws on the forefeet
and four claws on the hind feet. When walking, each foot is lifted and se1
down on the ground at a different time. In the slow trot. diagonal front
and hind feet are placed in pairs, with two feet always on the ground.
Side-necked terrapins, family Pelomedusidae, are characterised by having
five claws on the fore and hind feet. Soft-shelled terrapins, family Tri
onychidae, have only three claws on each foot. Sea turtles, superfamily
Chelonioidea, have limbs that are modified into flippers. which retain only
one or two claws. Sea turtles leave distinctive spoor in the sand when they
come out of the sea to lay their eggs on beaches above the high-water
mark (Branch, 1988).
Spoor of Birds
Structure offeet
A bird treads only on its toes and the metatarsus, which is the long bone
nearest to the foot, never touches the ground when it is walking. The foot
never has more than four toes, of which three usually point forwards and
one is turned backwards. When compared to the foot of a mammal, it is
the fifth toe which has disappeared and the first which is usually turned
backwards (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972).
Some birds, like woodpeckers. Picidae, have the first and fourth toes
behind and the second and third toes in front (zygodactylous). Trogons.
Trogonidae, have the first and second toes behind and the third and fourth
toes in front. The feet of swifts, .11icropodidae, are weak and tiny, and
the first to fourth toes are normally all in front, while birds like mousehirds,
Coliidae, have the first toe reversible to the back or front (pamprodactylous).
Some birds. like hornhills. Bucerutidae, have toes joined or partly joined at
the base (syndactyl > (McLachlan and Liversidge, 1978).
The third toe is usually the longest, followed by the fourth and the second.
The first toe may be long, hut is more often small and positioned so high
that it leaves no mark in the track. Sometimes only the claw of the first toe
leaves a mark. In some birds the first toe is completely absent, while the
ostrich only has two toes on each foot, the third and fourth. The first toe
consists of one phalange, and the second toe of two phalanges, the third
toe of three phalanges and the fourth toe of four phalanges. The outermost
joint of each toe carries a claw (Bang and Dahlstrom. 1972 ).
Types offeet
The passerines. which live mainly in trees and hushes. have feet adapted
for perching. They have long pointed claws and a relatively long first toe
which is opposable to the front toes, so that the foot can firmly grip a
branch. They have long, slender front toes with an acute angle between
the outer toes. Birds like woodpeckers have two toes at the back to act
as braces to help them hold on as they peck at trees. Pigeons and doves
have perching feet with long toes, but the angle between the outer toes
is larger so that they are better adapted to walking. The crow has thick
toes which are also suited for perching and walking. The feet of birds of
prey dre adapted for gripping their prey so that the powerful, sharp talons
tighten reflexively when grdsping their prey. The back claws of eagles are
particularly powerful to kill their prey as they strike it.
The first toes of francolins and guineafowls are reduced so that they are
better adapted to a terrestrial way of life, but still able to roost in trees.
Since they spend most of their time on the ground, they do not need a
long back toe that is required for dn arboreal way of life and a short hack
toe is adequate for roosting. Their legs are powerful with thick toes that
are widely spread and adapted for walking and nmning. They have strong,
blunt claws which are well adapted for scratching for food in the ground.
Birds that are exclusively terrestrial, like korhaans and bustards, have
no back toe, since they do not need one for perching and a hack toe is
disadvantageous for running. The three front toes are thick and strong, and
the angle between the toes is smaller. This reduces the area of contact with
the ground so that they are better adapted for running. They have strong,
blunt claws for traction when mnning and also to help them scratch for food
in the ground. Coursers and dikkops also have toes adapted for mnning.
,{
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blue crane
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black korhaan
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crowned plover
Swainson's
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Egyptian goose
Kori bustard
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blackheaded heron
ostrich
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red-knobbed coot
The ostrich, which is the fastest runner of all birds, only has two toes. While
the small fourth toe is for balance when walking slowly, it is the large third
toe with a thick, strong claw that is adapted for running.
Some birds, like plovers, have feet that are adapted for either terrestrial
foraging or wading on shore-lines. The hind toe is either reduced or absent,
and the three front toes are long and slender and widely spread to give
them support in soft mud. While some, like the crowned plover, are mainly
terrestrial, others, like the blacksmith plover and wattled plover, forage on
dry land as well as on shore-lines, and others, like the threebanded plover,
forage mainly on shore-lines. Cranes and storks are also adapted to terrestrial
foraging or wading. Their hind toes are reduced and elevated, and the three
front toes widely spread to give support and balance in soft mud.
Wading birds have long, slender toes which are widely spread and there
fore well adapted for walking on a soft substrate without sinking in. The
first toe is usually small, as in the moorhen, but may be large as in herons,
or completely absent as in the oystercatcher. The heron's long first toe is
adapted for their ,trboreal habits, as it enables them to grip a branch. The
jacanas have very long toes with long, almost straight claws, especially on
the hind toe, to distribute their weight over floating vegetation.
The feet of the coot, finfoot and grebes are intermediate between those
of waders and swimming birds. Their feet are very large with long front
toes each of which have a series of lobate webs for swimming. Their hind
toes are reduced. In swimming birds the surface of the foot is enlarged by
a web which joins the three front toes in birds like ducks and gulls, and
all four toes in birds like cormorants and pelicans. In swimming the toes
are held apart so that the foot presents a large surface area when pushed
backwards through the water. The toes are then folded together as the
foot moves forward, so that it presents a minimum surface area and little
resistance (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972).
Spoor of Mammals
Structure offeet
The original primitive mammals had five clawed toes on each foot and
they were plantigrade, that is, they trod on the whole sole of the foot. This
primitive type of foot is found in some of the insectivores and rodents.
In animals with five well-developed toes, they are numbered from one to
five beginning with the inner toe, which corresponds with the thumb of the
human hand. The third toe is the longest, followed in order by the fourth,
second, fifth and first. If all five toes show in the footprint the inner toe
is the shortest. In many cases the first toe only makes a weak impression,
sometimes none at all, and the footprint will show four toes, with the outer
toe the shortest. If all five toes are showing and the shortest toe is on the
left side of the footprint, the track was made by the right foot. If only four
toes are showing and the shortest toe is on the right side of the footprint,
then the track was also made by the right foot (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972).
3
claw •
toe
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intermediate
2
4
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pads
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porcupine
cloven hoof
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white-tailed mongoose
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y ellow mongoose
murid
large grey mongoose
water mongoose
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6cQ,'
suricate
striped polecat
slender mongoose
bat-eared fox
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rock dassie
steenbok
common duiker
em
klipspringer
springhare
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honey badger
Chacma baboon
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spotted-necked otter
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antbear
cheetah
buffalo
Burchell's zebra
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hippopotamus
white rhinoceros
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The underside of the feet are protected by pads which are thick, elastic
masses of connective tissue covered by a strong, flexible, horny layer. The
secretion from sweat glands in the pads is transferred to the footprint. giving
it a scent. The pads themselves are naked hut in most animals the skin
between them is covered in hair (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972). There is a
toe pad beneath the tip of each toe, which is also known as a digital pad.
Behind the toe pads there is a further row of pads, called the intermediate
pads. The intermediate pads of the forefeet are also known as the palmar
pads, while the intermediate pads of the hind foot are also known as the
plantar pads. In many animals the intermediate pads are fused to form one
large pad. In addition, some animals have one or two proximal pads, which
lie further back on the foot. The proximal pads of the forefoot are also
known as the metacarpal pads, while the proximal pads of the hind foot
are also known as the metatarsal pads.
The skeletal structure of the forefoot consists of the carpal bones, meta
carpal hones and phalanges while that of the hind foot consists of the
tarsal bones, metatarsal bones and phalanges. While the first toe consists of
two phalanges, the other toes each consist of three phalanges. Each toe of
the forefoot articulates with a metacarpal bone, which in turn articulates with
a distal carpal bone. The toes of the hind foot articulate with the metatarsal
bones, which in turn articulate with the distal tarsal bones.
Primates, including humans, support their weight on the whole foot.
Most mammals support their weight on the distal ends, or heads, of the
metacarpal bones and the phalanges of the forefeet and the distal ends of
the metatarsal and phalanges of the hind feet. Most ungulates support their
weight only on the tips of the distal phalanges of the third and fourth toes.
Plantigrade animals have relatively short limbs and normally move at a
steady pace, because the construction of their feet is not well adapted for
jumping or for running any distance. An animal that runs fast and over
long distances must have long limbs and the area of foot in contact with
the ground must be as small as possible. In order to obtain a firm grip on
the ground, the foot must exert the greatest possible pressure to dig into
the ground. Since pressure is equal to force per area, for any given force.
which depends on the mass of the animal and its acceleration, the contact
area must be as small as possible to ensure the greatest possible pressure.
Animals whose survival depends on their ability to run very fast, do so on
their toes or on the tips of their toes. By the elongation of the limb bones
they have evolved long slender legs, and at the same time there has been
a reduction in the number of toes. The toes on which they support their
weight have also become very powerfully developed. The most common
reduction involves the first toe which may disappear completely so that the
animal becomes four-toed. The second and fifth toes may be reduced, as
in antelope, to form dew claws, while the weight is supported on the third
and fourth toes. In the equids the third toe is fully developed and ends in a
hoof, and only the vestiges of the second and fourth, the splint bones, are
present (Bang and Dahlstrom, 1972).
In most mammals the prints of the forefeet are larger and broader than
those of the hind feet (see Fig. 18). The toes of the forefeet are usually also
more splayed than those of the hind feet. This is because the forefeet need
to cover a larger area to support the head and forequarters of the body,
which are usually heavier than the hindquarters. Some mammals, such as
rodents and otters, have larger hind feet because the hindquarters are more
massive than the head and forequarters. The forefeet are rounder in shape
than the narrower hind feet, because the forelegs are almost perpendicular
to the ground and the hind legs are at an angle to the ground. A cylinder
that is perpendicular to a plane has a circular cross section, while a cylinder
that meets a plane at an angle has an elliptical cross section.
Types of Feet
The feet of most insectivores and rodents are protected by small round pads
while the thin, sharp claws are an adaptation to climbing. So, for example,
squirrels are able to climb up a vertical tree trunk hy digging their sharp
claws into the hark of the tree. Hedgehogs and porcupines have larger pads
to support their more massive bodies. While the claws of the forefeet of the
porcupine, canerats and spring-hare are well adapted for digging, the broad
pointed claws of the hind feet of the spring-hare are adapted for throwing
the loosened soil clear of the excavations.
All predators have well-developed pads which are adapted for stealth.
Some also have well-developed proximal pads to give them support on
soft muddy ground. This can be seen in some of the mongooses. The
mongooses can he arranged from the relatively primitive to the relatively
specialised according to the genera: Herpestes, Galerella, Atilax, Helogale,
Mungos, Ichneumia, Rhynchogale, Bdeogale, Paracynictis, Cynictis, Suri
cata (Hinton and Dunn, 1967). The relatively primitive mongooses, like the
large grey mongoose and the watermongoose, have well-developed prox
imal pads on the forefeet and the first toe is present, which gives them
support on soft muddy ground. The proximal pad and the first toe gradu
ally disappear towards the relatively specialised mongoose. So, for example,
the proximal pads and first toes of the white-tailed mongoose have become
redundant and do not show in the spoor, except for the first claw of the
forefoot that marks clearly. The relatively specialised mongooses only show
four toes, with no proximal pad, in the spoor. While some, like the yellow
mongoose, have five toes on the forefoot and four on the hind, others, like
the suricate, only have four toes on the fore and hind feet. The area of the
feet in contact with the ground becomes less as they are adapted to drier or
more arid conditions. Otters not only have well-developed proximal pads
to give them support on soft muddy ground. abut also have webs between
the toes for swimming.
While some mongoo�es, like the �lender mongoose, have thin sharp claws
for climbing trees, many mongooses, as well as the suricate, striped polecat,
honey badger and hat-eared fox have long, strong claws on the forefeet
adapted for digging. Some predators, like wild dogs and cheetahs, which
hunt in open terrain and rely on their speed to capture their prey, have
short, hlunt claws which act like spikes to prevent slipping. Some_ like
the cheetah and caracal, have ridges under the intermediate pads to give
them additional traction. Most of the cats rely on stealth to stalk their prey
in terrain that provides adequate cover. Even though the claws may he
protracted to prevent slipping while charging, they cannot maintain high
speeds, so they emhrace their prey and hold it with their sharp claws, to
stop it from getting away, until the ki1ling bite can he delivered. When not
in use, their sharp claws are retracted into sheaths to protect them from
wearing down. The claws are protractile rather than retractahle since their
normal position, with the muscles at rest, is retracted within the sheaths
while they are extended by the ligaments when required (Smithers, 1983).
The padded feet of the rock dassie a1lows it to negotiate steep and often
smooth rocky surfaces. The soles of the feet are naked, the skin thick
and padded with glandular tissue which keeps the surface permanently
moist. The toes are short, ending in hoof-like nails. The inner toe of the
hind foot has a curved grooming claw (Smithers, 1983). Hare� Jack pads
which are replaced hy a tight, springy layer of strong stiff hairs ( Bang and
Dahlstrom, 1972). While the claws prevent slipping, the hairs muffle the
sound of the feet as they run. The dense growth of hair in the sole of the
foot tends to ohliterate the characteristics of the footprint.
The hands and feet of primates are adapted to grasping hranches and are
idea11y suited for an arhoreal way of life. This also enahles them to hold
their food while sitting in trees and has made the use of tools possihle.
Bushhabies have grooming claws on the second toes of their hind feet
(Smithers, 1983J. Anthears and pangolins have we11-developed, strong claws
for breaking open and digging into termite nests.
The feet of elephants, rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses are mainly adap
ted to support their massive bodies. Rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses have
large hroad toes to increase the area of their feet in contact with the ground.
Elephants have springy feet which consist of a mass of soft muscles and
ligaments, enahling them to move very silently (Lye11, 1 929).
Equids only have one toe, the third, on each leg and only tread on the
outermost toe joint which has a we11-developed hoof. A hoof is a !Tiodified
claw, and the wa11 of the hoof usua1ly extends a short distance heyond
the sole. In soft sand the toe pad, or "frog", shows clearly in the spoor. In
tracks on very hard suhstrates only the edge of the hoof will appear in the
footprint, as is also the case with animals with cloven hoofs. Hoofs are an
adaptation for speed which is essential for the survival of an ungulate.
Ungulates with cloven hoofs have four toes, the first toe heing ahsent, hut
they only tread on the tips of the third and fourth, which are well developed.
The second and fifth toes, the dew claws, are much smaller and are at the
rear of the foot. They are usually positioned so high up on the leg that they
do not touch the ground, except when the animal treads in soft mud. The
hoof consists of the wall which encloses the sole and the toe pad he hind the
sole. In very distinct tracks the toe pad may appear as a round depression.
Spoor Intetpretation
In some cases it extends to the tip of the hoof. The impressions of the two
halves of the hoof are usually almost mirror images of each other, but when
they are not the same size the inner hoof is usually the shorter. The track
made by the forefoot is larger and more splayed than that of the hind foot
and when moving fast the front hoofs splay even more.
Apart from random variations, the shape of hoofs are adapted to different
conditions. The more massive ungulates, such as buffalo and eland, have
broad round hoofs, while the lighter antelopes have slender. narrow hoofs.
Very sharp, pointed hoofs are an adaptation for speed, especially on soft,
sandy substrate, and act like spikes to prevent slipping. Steenbok, oribi and
'ipringbok which prefer open terrain, have to rely on speed to escape being
captured, and have sharp, pointed hoofs. Larger antelope, like gemsbok,
which prefer open country, have hoofs that are broad to support their
massive bodies, but pointed for speed, especially in soft sand. On the other
extreme, the klipspringer has small rounded hoofs which are adapted for
agility in rocky terrain. The small, rounded hoofs not only ensure a firm
foothold on rocky surfaces, but also enable the klipspringer to abruptly
change direction as it swiftly leaps from rock to rock.
Many variations occur that vary from sharply pointed to rounded hoofs.
While specialisation, such as adaptation for speed in open terrain or agility
in rocky terrain has advantages, it also has disadvantages, for as more effi
cient performance is gained for a given function, efficiency in performance
of alternative or complementary functions is lost. In contrast, a generalised
form preserves a more or less versatile balance in performing various func
tions, although less efficiently in each ca�e than forms specialised for each
alternative. So, for example, the heart shaped hoof, such as that of the
duiker. bushbuck and kudu, is not as specialised. but more versatile. These
antelope rely more on cover to escape detection, and when detected rely on
a combination of speed and agility to swiftly find their way among bushes
and other obstacles. For the smaller duikers very sharply pointed hoofs may
be a disadvantage as they tend to fork up leaves in their forest habitat. Hoofs
that are too rounded may slip on the leaves.
Another specialised adaptation is the long, slender, widely splayed hoofs
of the sitatunga, which are adapted to soft muddy substrate. Due to surface
tension. toes that are splayed out distribute the weight over a larger area.
The toes of reedbuck may be close together on firm substrate, but splay out
in soft mud.
Indirect Identification of Spoor
Apart from direct interpretation of the spoor itself, indirect interpretation
based on the context within which the spoor is found may help to determine
the identity of the animal in question. If a spoor could be that of any one of
several similar species, those that do not occur in that locality may be ruled
out. The type of terrain in which a spoor is found can also narrow down the
possibilities. since it can be expected that the spoor of an animal will usually
be found in its preferred habitat. Some animals are found only near lakes,
marshes or rivers, while others prefer arid conditions. Some are adapted to
open plains, some to closed woodland, some to forests and others to rocky
hillsides or mountain slopes. When tracking an animal it can he expected
that its movements will be confined mainly to its preferred habitat. The
habits of aQimals may also help to determine their identity. If an estimate
of the age of the spoor can he made, for example, whether before or after
dew was formed, it may be determined whether it belongs to a nocturnal or
diurnal animal. If it is known whether that animal occurs solitarily, in pairs
or in group:-:., it can be expected that their spoor will indicate their numbers
accordingly. Any habit that is characteristic of a species may help to identify
that species by its spoor.
Interpretation of Activities
Apart from identifying animal tracks and being able to follow a trc.1il, track
ers must also he able to interpret the animal's activities so that they can
anticipate and predict its movements.
Lyin& sitting and standing
When an animal has been lying down, this may be indicated hy imprints
made by its body and its legs folded underneath the body. Where an animal
has been lying down in grass, the grass will he flattened out in the shape of
its body. The sitting position is usually indicated by the hind limbs showing
right up to the heels with the imprints of the forefeet in between and the
tail showing behind. Some animals, like suricates, may sit on their haunches
or stand up on their hind feet, supporting themselves with their tails. \Vhen
standing, the feet are usually apart and pointing slightly outwards, especially
the forefeet.
Gaits
When footprints are neat and clear, showing all the fine detail they could
possibly show, this usually indicates that the animal was standing still or
moving slowly. If the animal was moving fast, the toes would have splayed,
the feet might have slipped, sand might have been kicked up and the
footprint may he partly obliterated. The direction of movement and the
length of the stride may be indicated by the depth and angle of the imprint
together with the direction in which the sand was thrown. These signs may
be particularly important when tracking animab like the spring-hare, whose
tracks may be several metres apart and do not follow a straight course. The
length of the stride indicates the speed of the animal, while the positions
of the tracks relative to each other reflects the animals' gait • (Fig. 26). The
positioning of many animal tracks is so characteristic that the animal that
made them can be identified without looking at the individual footprints.
In cases where footprints are indistinct and show no details, identification
may depend entirely upon the relative positions of the tmcks.
•
NOTE: References used for this section on gaits are: Bang and Dahlstrom,
dia Britannica,
1963.
1972; Encyclopae
Walking
When walking. each of the four feet is lifted and set down on the ground
.1t a different time, each limh moving separately. The legs are moved in a
definite order: the right foreleg is followed by the left hind leg, which is
followed hy the left foreleg, which is followed hy the right hind leg. and
so on. The hind foot is always placed close to the point where the forefoot
was placed, so that its track is made a little behind. right over or just in
front of the track of the forefoot, depending on the speed the animal was
walking. Where the forefoot track is covered by that of the hind foot, the
tracks are said to register.
When walking slowly, the hind foot track will be behind the forefoot track,
.1nd when walking fast the hind foot track will he in front of the forefoot
track. In the slow walk, only one foot is moved at a time, with three feet
always on the ground. This is the normal walk of heavy animals such as
buffalo and rhinoceroses. while antelope move in this way while grazing.
In the normal and fast walk of most animals, two feet are in motion at the
same time, each foot being followed by the next one when it is halfway
through its stride, while two feet are always on the ground. In the running
walk the tempo is so fast that in some phases only a single foot is on the
ground at a time. The running walk is not as speedy as the trot and few
.1nimals adopt 1t naturally, except the elephant, whose only speedy gait it
is. The centre of gravity is shifted with each footfall, or four times in each
cycle. so that it is a tiring gait at speed.
Pacing
When pacing, the foreleg and hind leg of the same side move at the same
time. At d walking speed, this gait is used by antelope like �pringhok and
hleshok. For animals whose legs are very long in proportion to their bodies,
it has the advantage that the forelegs are never in the way of the hind legs.
At a fast trotting tempo, it is used by camels, some dogs and occasionally
horses. Horses can also be taught to pace.
Trotting
When trotting the diagonal feet are placed in pairs at the same time. For
example, the right forefoot and left hind foot are lifted and set down at the
same time, and then the left forefoot and right hind foot. With the slow
trot two feet are always on the ground. This is used by sluggish or clumsy
animals such as tortoises and badgers. With the fast trot there is an interval
of suspension with no feet on the ground. The animal's centre of gravity
moves along in a more or less straight horizontal line, and little or no energy
is expended in lifting the body with each stride. At a given rate of travel
trotting is the least energy-consuming and least tiring gait.
The trail is very similar to that produced by walking, but the stride is
greater and the straddle less. The length of the stride is the distance between
two successive tracks from the same foot, and the straddle is the distance,
at a right angle to the direction of motion, between the left and right tracks.
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Relative positions of footprints for different gaits. The fore-foot tracks are indicated
by black dots and the hind-foot tracks by white dots. Where the hind-foot tracks
register on the fore-foot tracks it is indicated by a half-black and half-white dots.
(a) slow walk (b) normal walk (c) trot (d) fast trot (e) trot with obliquely positioned
footprints (e.g. foxes, jackals and some dogs) (f) transverse gallop (g) lateral
gallop (h) transverse jump or bound (i) lateral jump or bound U) half bound
(k) jump with hind-feet tracks side by side (I) jump with hind-feet tracks registered
in fore-feet tracks (m) stotting (n) bipedal hops (After Bang and Dahlstrom, 1 972)
- .... ....
....
.... ....
Cl
.... .... .... ___
-
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WALKING : 1 The right hind-foot is placed in the track of the right fore-foot, which
has just left the ground, when the right fore-foot is half way through its stride, the
left hind-foot leaves the ground, while the other two feet are on the ground. 2 The
right fore-foot is placed on the ground, while the left hind-foot is half way through
its stride. 3 The left fore-foot leaves the ground just before the left hind-foot is
placed in its track, while the animal is supported on the other two legs. 4 The
left hind-foot is placed on the ground while the left fore-foot is moved forwards.
5 The right fore-foot is lifted, while the left hind-foot and right fore-foot are on the
grm.�nd. The position is as in No. 1 , but with the opposite feet. The left fore-foot
will be placed on the ground, followed by the right hind-foot, and so on. (After
Bang and Dahlstrom, 1 972)
TROTTING: 1 With the left fore-foot and right hind-foot already off the ground,
the animal takes off from the right fore-foot and left hind-foot. 2 While the animal
is in the air, the left fore-foot and the right hind-leg are moved forwards. 3 The
left fore-foot and the right hind-foot are placed on the ground simultaneously. The
right hind-foor registers approximately in the track of the right fore-foot. 4 The
animal is again in the air while the right fore-leg and the left hind-leg now move
forwards. 5 The right fore-foot and the left hind-foot are placed on the ground.
The left hind-foot registers approximately i n the track of the left fore-foot. (After
Bang and Dahlstrom, 1 972)
The faster an animal trots the greater is the stride and the smaller is the
straddle, so that in a very fast trot the tracks of the right and left side almost
lie on a single line. On firm ground the hind foot usually strikes the ground
in front of the tracks made by the forefoot, and the faster the speed, the
further in front it is.
Some animals, like foxes, jackals and some dogs, leave a trotting tail in
which hath forefoot tracks lie on one side and hoth hind foot tracks on
the other side. The trail consists of a row of obliquely positioned pairs of
footprints, each of which consists of a forefoot track with a hind foot track
placed obliquely forwards and to one side. This trail is due to the fact that
the animal trots with its hody positioned at an angle to the direction of
travel so that the forelegs are never in the way of the hind legs. Now and
again it may shift the rear part of its body to the other side.
Galloping
The gallop is the fastest gait of most of the larger mammals. In contrast with
the jump, all four limbs take part in moving the animal forward. As in the
jump, there is a phase in which the animal is airborne, hut in contrast to the
jump the animal usually takes off from the forelimbs. The four legs work in
quick succession one after the other. The footfall sequence varies with the
speed or kind of animal. In the transverse gallop either one of the hind feet
is followed by the other and then by the diagonal forefoot, followed by the
other forefoot. In the lateral gallop either one of the hind feet is followed by
the other and then by the forefoot on the same side, followed by the other
forefoot. An animal may lead with either front foot or change from one to
the other. Animals like horses, rhinoceroses, goats, �heep, cattle and cats
seem to prefer the transverse gallop, while the lateral gallop is favoured hy
dogs, deer, antelope and giraffe.
Bounding
As the speed of the gallop increases the gait becomes more like a jump. The
bound is a fast gait intermediate between a gallop and a jump, in which the
take-off by the hind limbs lifts it from the ground and propels it into the
air. Mammals with short legs or long, limper bodies use the hind legs dose
together or even employ them as a unit to accomplish the half hound or
the bound, but the forefeet are used separately. There are many possible
transitions between a jump and a gallop so that it is not possible to define
any sharp boundary between them.
Jumping or Hopping
In jumping or hopping the animal is momentarily airborne, taking off with
both hind legs so that it is projected forwards in an arc, landing on the
forelegs, which usually hit the ground one a little in front of the other.
The forelegs carry the animal a short distance forwards, and then leave
the ground again. The hind legs then land a little in front of the forefoot
tracks. A jumping trail consists of groups of four footprints. The two forefoot
tracks will lie dose to each other, with one a 1 ittle behind the other, and
I
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GALLOPING: 1 The animal is supported on the fore-legs, but is shifting its weight
from the left fore-leg to its right. The hind-legs are moving forwards. 2 In the take
off the weight of the animal is supported only on the right fore-foot. 3 The animal
is in the air while the hind-legs move forwards. 4 The left hind-foot touches the
ground, while the other legs move forwards. 5 The animal is supported on the
right hind-leg and left fore-leg , but as the right fore-foot is placed on the ground,
the hind-legs will move forwards as in No. 1 . (After Bang and Dahlstrom, 1 972)
JUMPING: 1 The animal pushes off from the hind-legs. 2 The animal is in the
air with the fore-legs stretched out before landing. 3 The right fore-foot reaches
the ground a fraction before the left fore-foot, after which the fore-feet leaves the
ground again. 4 The animal is in the air with all four legs tucked up under it. 5 The
hind-legs reach the ground and start a new jump. (After Bang and Dahlstrom,
1 972)
in front of them the hind foot tracks will lie more or less side by side. In
some animals one or hoth of the hind feet may register in the tracks of the
forefeet. Jumping or hopping is the commonest gait of nMny small animals
with powerful hind legs, such as small rodents.
Stotting
Stotting is performed by animals such as springhok and orihi when they are
under stress or heing chased. The back is arched and the legs held stiffly
downwards as it leaps off the ground. It lands on all four legs simultaneously
and then shoots up into the air again, repeating it several times. During
stotting the white dorsal fan is fully expo�ed, which may act as a signal to
other members of the herd (Smithers, 19R3>.
Bipedal bop
In the bipedal hop both hind feet are used in unison while the forefeet are
held close to the body. A long tail is usually u�ed for balance. This gait
is u�ed by mammals with powerful hind legs and reduced forelegs, such
as the spring-hare and the hushbahy. In the trail the tracks occur in pairs.
On the ground, the smallest passerines, such as tits and sparrows, normally
move by hopping, so that their tracks usually occur in p,tirs. Medium-sized
species. such as thrushes, and larger passerines, such as crows, walk as well
as hop.
Bipedal walk and run
Bipedal walking, in which the hind legs are used ::Ilternately, produces tracks
in a zigzag or sometimes in a straight line. When running. the length of the
stride is greater than in walking, hut the straddle is less. All terrestrial birds
walk or run. With some birds. like plovers. the toes are widely spread
when walking, hut when running the toes are closer together. Some lizards
run only on their hind legs, using the tail for balance. Except for humans
and pangolins, mammals do not normally employ the bipedal walk or run.
Monkeys, baboons and other primates may use it momentarily, sometimes
while carrying something.
Actions
Apart from specific gaits, the various actions of the animal may also be
indicated by the tracks. Signs of digging may be characteristic of the species,
such as the distinctive claw-marks made by the spring-hare or the anthear,
or the narrow hole dug by the hat-eared fox. The type of food dug out,
whether roots, bulbs or termites, may indicate the animal involved. Animals
like baboons turn over rocks to look for insects, spiders or scorpions, or
pull up clumps of grass and shake off the soil before eating them. Feeding
signs of specific animals may not only indicate what they were feeding on,
but also how they were feeding. The methods of handling food may also
he characteristic of a species.
Grooming activities may be indicated by the po�ition in which the animal
was sitting to scratch itself. Signs of rolling on the ground may be evident
Spoor Intetpretation
where Jn animal was having a dust-hath or where it was wallowing in
mud. Animals like rhinoceroses rub themselves against logs which become
well \\ orn after a time of repeated use. Territorial male antelopes may
demonstrate threat by pawing and horning of shrubbery. Ground horning
in moist, soft ground may also he carried out by some antelope.
To interpret ,tctivities, the tracker must visualise the actions of the feet
that created the various disturbances of the ground in and around the track.
Signs that the animal's feet pushed into the ground may indicate a sudden
stop in a sidestep. A smooth shallow hill outside the print may indicate
pressure exerted both downward and in the direction of the dome as the
result of a sudden launch, such as when the animal jumps or leaps. Dirt
spreading out in front of the tracks usually indicates a fast gait, or when
it spreads out behind the track, indicates rapid acceleration. If it is spread
out in a circular pattern around the track, it indicates a sudden whirl or
pivot. Drag marks at the front or back of tracks may indicate fatigue, injury
or high speed. Slide marks may indicate th.H the animal was sliding to a
sudden stop. On muddy surfaces or on a slope there may he slip marks.
Virtually all conceivable actions leave distinctive markings which may make
it possible for the tracker to reconstruct the animal's activities (Brown, 1 983).
Determining the age of spoor
One of the most difficult aspects of spoor interpretation is determining the
age of spoor. Only a very experienced tracker can determine the age with
reasonable accuracy, while absolute accuracy is probably impossible. Al
though the age of spoor is usually determined by means of visual signs,
scent and taste may also give an indication of spoor age. Australian abo
rigines, for example, smell the tracks to tell how fresh they are, and the
Akoa lay their tongues on the compressed earth to taste how fresh elephant
tracks are (Coon, 1971 ).
The distance the animal may be from the spoor under observation does
not only depend on how old the spoor is, but also how fast the animal
has been moving. If the animal has been moving fast, even a fresh spoor
may not he worth pursuing, since the hunter may never catch up with the
animal. On the other hand, a spoor may be old, but the animal may have
lain clown to rest not too far away and may still be in the near vicinity. A
fresh spoor of an animal that has been browsing, moving slowly from bush
to bush, will make an ideal quarry to track clown.
When making an estimate of the age of the spoor and the speed at which
the animal was moving, it is important to decide whether or not the animal
may be close enough to pursue, and whether or not the animal may be close
enough for it to see, hear or smell the hunters approaching. If the animal is
too far ahead to catch up, a lot of energy will be wasted in fruitless pursuit.
If the animal is close enough to pursue, but not close enough for it to detect
the hunters, the hunters do not have to worry about moving stealthily and
can move ahead as fast as possible to catch up with it. At this stage moving
stealthily will only waste time, in which case the hunters may never catch
up with the animal. However, if the animal is very close, the hunters must
move stealthily, communicate with sign language and look ahead of them
so that they will see the animal before it sees them. Although a reasonable
estimate of the age of spoor is important, absolute accuracy is not necessary,
since hunters can make allowances for any inaccuracy.
A reasonably accurate way of determining the age of spoor is possible
when an animal has been resting in the shade of a bush. The position of
the marks on the ground where the animal was lying or standing indicate
where the shade was, and therefore what the position of the sun was, so
it is possible to calculate from the movement of the sun when the animal
rested (Grainger, 1967).
During the hotter hours of the day animals usually stand in the shade or
some, like blesbok and bontebok, may on hot days stand in orientated
groups facing the sun. On cold mornings some animals, like the Cape
mountain zebra, stand with their bodies at right angles to the sun's rays,
or during heavy rainstorms, they stand with their backs to the rain. At night
animals will stand or lie out in the open without being orientated in any
way. The various positions and situations in which the tracks of a standing
animal may be found may all give an indication of when the animal was
standing there. If the tracks of a moving animal go under the west side
of some trees, it indicates that the animal might have caught the morning
shade. If the tracks go under the east side, they might have caught the
afternoon shade. If they go under either side, the animal might have been
moving at midday (Lee, 1979).
When studying the ageing processes of spoor, a tracker can only make
an intuitive estimate of the age. In some cases, where the ageing process is
relatively rapid, it is possible to make a reasonably accurate estimate of the
age of spoor. However, due to the complexity of factors involved, an accu
rate estimate is usually not possible, especially where the ageing processes
are slow and may vary considerably depending on the circumstances. An
intuitive estimate also becomes less and less accurate for older spoor (see
Chapter 6).
Heat and humidity, which determine the rate at which moisture content is
lost, may vary considerably depending on the time of the day, the prevailing
weather conditions and the season. Spoor age faster in the heat of the day
than during the cooler part of the day or night. On a hot, dry day spoor
will age faster than on a cool, humid day, so the rate of ageing may vary
considerably from one season to another.
Wind not only increases the rate at which moisture is lost, but also has
an eroding effect. The rate at which wind changes a spoor will not only
depend on how strong it is blowing, but also how long it was blowing. A
strong wind that drops after a short while may have the same effect as a
slight breeze that blows for a long time. Tracks made in shade and shelter
will also be less affected by the sun and wind The rate at which the wind
erodes the spoor also depends on the soil hardness (Brown, 1983). A spoor
in hard soil or clay mdy he eroded more slowly than a spoor in soft sand.
The most accurate indications of spoor age are provided by signs that
involve rapid moisture loss, since these signs change relatively rapidly in
the early stages. Examples of such signs are saliva on the leaves or on the
ground where the animal has been feeding or licking for salt, fresh urine
and droppings, and water that has heen splashed on the ground next to
waterholes or rivers.
A damp patch of urine, which may have a white foam when very fresh,
dries into a hard crust of sand. Droppings, which are covered with mucus
when very fresh will still be sticky when reasonably fresh and dry from the
outside as they get older. In the case of large animals, such as elephants,
fresh droppings will also be warm and may stay warm inside for a while
(Grainger, 1967). Colour changes may depend on the animal's diet and may
vary from one animal to another. Droppings also shrink when they dry out.
The time it takes for droppings to dry out depends on the initial moisture
content, which will he more when the animal has been eating green grass
than when it has been eating dry grass, and may therefore also be less in the
dry season than in the rainy season. The rate of drying out will also depend
on the heat and humidity, as well as the wind. Urine and droppings will
also take longer to dry out in the shade or in a sheltered spot. While the rate
of change is relatively rapid in the early stages, once dried out the ageing
processes are much slower and therefore much more difficult to estimate.
Eventually the hard crust of sand formed by urine will start crumbling, while
dried out droppings will slowly pulverise.
Another sign that changes rapidly in the early stages is created when
an animal walks through a river or a puddle of water, or steps into the
water when drinking. As the animal steps out of the water, its wet feet will
leave wet footprints and splash marks that may dry out at a very rapid
rate, depending on the heat, humidity and wind. In direct sunlight the
water may evaporate within minutes. Where the animal has stepped into the
water, some silt may be stirred up which may take quite a while to resettle
(Robbins, 1977). In muddy ground, tracks may dry out in a very short time
or may remain wet for a long time, depending on the moisture content
of the ground and the weather conditions. Usually the elevated edges of
the footprints dry out first, while the deepest hollows of the track remain
moist longest. In very moist ground, water may run down and collect in the
deepest part of the track, where it may remain for a very long time. Wet
ground can be very misleading as any spoor remains visible and looks fresh
for a considerable time. Once dried out, footprints may retain their fresh,
sharp appearance for a very long time, so it will be very difficult to make
an accurate estimate of their age (Grainger, 1967).
The rate at which the wind erodes a spoor is usually difficult to estimate,
because it may vary considerably depending on how strong and for how
long the wind was blowing. It may also be complicated by wind that has
not been blowing constantly. Fresh footprints will have sharp edges which
will be rounded off by the wind. Footprints will lose definition and leaves,
seeds and loose sand will gather in them. Leaf spoor, created by leaves
rolling in the wind, may also be superimposed on the tracks.
The rate of discolouring of spoor is also difficult to estimate, since changes
may be very subtle and the rate of change may he very slow. Fresh footprints
expose the darker colour of the ground beneath the surface, which will
gradually change to the colour of the ground on top as it is exposed to
the sun. When stones and leaves are overturned, their darker undersides
will be exposed, which will also gradually become lighter in colour. Broken
vegetation will discolour at the break, and the rate of change may differ for
different types of vegetation as well as the prevailing weather conditions.
To get an indication of the colour change, a new break may be made and
compared with the old break. Leaves may he knocked down hy a moving
animal, or dropped by a feeding animal. These leaves may still be green
when they have been dropped on the ground and will discolour as they
dry out. Apart from being bruised or broken, the amount of springhack of
a flattened tuft of grass may also give an indication of when it was stepped
upon (Robbins, 1 977).
The activities of an animal may give .1n approximate estimate of the age
of spoor if its habits are known. If an animal is either diurnal or nocturnal,
the tracks will have been made either in the day or the night. During the
midday heat an animal may rest up in a dense thicket, or at night it may
sleep out in the open. Animals may go to waterholes or pans at specific
times of the day, and move to their favoured grounds according to a set
routine.
With a detailed knowledge of the habits and movements of other animals,
the relative age of a spoor may be indicated by superimposed animal spoor.
If the spoor of a nocturnal animal is superimposed on the quarry's spoor,
the quarry's spoor was probably made during the night or the previous day.
Furthermore, if the quarry is diurnal, then its spoor will have been made
the previous day. If the quarry's spoor is superimposed on a nocturnal
animal's spoor, the quarry's spoor was probably made during the night
or earlier that same day, and if the quarry is diurnal, it would have been
made that same day. In the process of tracking the quarry, the spoor of
several animals may be found either superimposed on top of the quarry's
spoor, or the quarry's spoor superimposed on the spoor of other animals,
so that an upper and lower limit for the age of the quarry's spoor may
be determined. The quarry's spoor may be superimposed on footprints of
animals going towards a waterhole, but the footprints of animals going away
from the waterhole may be superimposed on that quarry's spoor, indicating
that the quarry's spoor was made at about the time the animals went to the
waterhole (Grainger, 1 967). If the pit of an ant-lion larva is stepped on, it
will reconstruct it. If the pit inside a footprint is still being reconstructed,
it may give an accurate indication of how old the spoor is. Spoor that are
most commonly superimposed on footprints are usually those of mice and
insects (which may he either diurnal or nocturnal) and small birds ( which
are diurnaD.
Apan from indicating the Jge of the quJrry's spoor relative to that of other
animals, it may also indicate the age of its spoor relative to an alternative
quarry. For example, while tracking down a gemsbok, hunters may find the
spoor of a wildebeest superimposed on that of the gemsbok, and they may
then decide to rather follow up the fresher wildebeest spoor.
Dew, mist and rdin may also give an indication of the relative age of
spoor. If dew has fallen on top of the spoor, the spoor was made during
the night or the pre,·ious day, while spoor on top of the dew would have
been made earlier that same day. Dew dripping from branches may also
form pock marks in spoor made during the night or early morning. Spoor
through long grass. made he fore dew or rdin, will be covered with drops.
If made after dew or rain, the drops will he shed off. If rain or mist has
fallen since the trdck was made, there will be pock marks in the tracks.
Conversely, if a track was made after rain or mist have fallen, there will be
pock marks around but not inside it. Heavy ground fog will also smooth
down spoor and leave pock marks under leafy branches (Grainger, 1967).
Although superimposed animal spoor, dew, mist or rain do not give
an indication of the actual age of the spoor, they give an indication of
the chronological sequence of a series of events. As more information is
gathered, trackers may revise their hypotheses to create a more detailed se
quence of events, combining information on the animal's own activities with
infom1ation on when these occurred relative to other animals' activities.
Reconstruction of Activities
To reconstruct an animal's activities, specific actions and movements must
be seen in the context of the animal's whole environment at specific times
and places. Where an animal is moving at a steady pace in a specific
direction, or following the easiest route along a well defined path, and
it is known that there is a waterhole ahead, it may be predicted that the
animal is going to the waterhole. A browsing antelope will move slowly
from bush to bush, usually in an upwind direction, so a tracker who knows
its favourite food will he able to anticipate the next hush the antelope will
go to.
The animal's relationship with other animals also influences its actions and
reactions. If a walking or trotting animal stops to look at something, this will
be indicated by the forefeet being turned in the direction the animal was
looking. There may be signs of a confrontation of a territorial male antelope
with an intruder, showing pawing marks and horning of shrubbery by the
one, and signs of flight hy the other; or signs of fighting between two serious
competitors. Signs of a sudden stampede may indicate that the animals were
fleeing from danger, and the tracks of a predator may be found close by.
Tracks may also show where a predator stalked its prey, and rushed up to
bring down the fleeing animal. The fleeing animal may have been crashing
through bushes, and its skeletal remains may be surrounded by signs of
its last struggle, followed by signs of feeding predators with the spoor of
scavengers superimposed on those of the predators.
Since tracks may be partly obliterated or difficult to �ee, they may only
exhibit fractional evidence, so the reconstruction of these animal's activi
ties will have to be based on creative hypotheses. To interpret the spoor,
trackers must use their imagination to visualise what the animal was doing
to create such markings. Such a reconstruction will contain more informa
tion than is evident from the spoor, and will therefore be partly factual and
partly hypothetical. As new factual information is gathered in the process of
tracking, hypotheses may have to he revised or substituted by better ones.
A detailed knowledge of an animal's habits, whtch may partly be based
on hypothetical spoor interpretation, as well as a knowledge of the envi
ronment, may enable trackers to extrapolate from incomplete evidence to
recreate a complete account of the animal's activities (see examples in Chap
ter 6). Spoor interpretation need not only be based on evidence from the
spoor itself, but also on activities which may be indicated by the spoor in the
context of the environment and in the light of the tracker's knowledge of the
animal's behaviour. A hypothetical reconstruction of the animal's activities
may enable trackers to anticipate and predict the animal's movements.
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Scientific Research Programmes
In order to re:'oh·e the apparent paradox of how a human scientific in
tellect that became capable of dealing with the subtleties of mathematics
and physics evolved at a time when humans were still hunter-gatherers,
it has been suggested in Chapter 4 that tracking is a science that involves
essentially the same intellectual abilities as physics and mathematics. To
substantiate the claim that the art of tracking involves the same intellectual
processes as modern science, and th,lt it may therefore represent the origin
of science, it is necessary to point out a few of the similarities between
tracking and modern physics. If the art of tracking repre�ents the origin
of science, it may also he instructive to consider some of the differences
between it and modern science.
It is perhaps interesting to note in passing that tracking is often used
as a metaphor in particle physics. Physicists, for example, study ··particle
tracks" created in bubble chambers (Fig. 27). A hook on particle physics by
R.D. Hill 0963) is entitled Tracking Dou•n Particles. And in a book on The
Scientist for the non-scientist, the authors. Margenau and Bergamini 0966),
illustrdte the scientific method with an essay on "The Pursuit of Omega
Minus", with subheads like "The Call to the Hunt", "Large Weapons for
a Small Quarry", "Closing in on the Quarry", and "A Still-greater Hunt
Ahead". Although physicists probably never intended it to be more than
just a metaphor, the analogy between tracking and physics may well he
more than just metaphorical. Indeed, a solution to the apparent paradox of
how humans evolved a scientific intellect capable of creating physics, may
perhaps nut be found by showing that a tracker thinks like a physicist, hut
rather by showing that a physicist thinks like a tracker.
The Logic of Science
In the logic of science one may distinguish between inductive-deductive and
hypothetico-deductive reasoning. Inductive-deductive reasoning involves a
process in which the premisses are obtained by generalising observed par
ticulars. These are then assumed to he representative of universal principles.
This initial process of induction starts with the assumption that statements
about a number of individual animals, for example, can lead to generalisa
tions about a species of which they are members. Such generalisations are
then used as premisses for the deduction of statements about particular ob
servations. A more concrete example would he the way spoor ,ue identified
as that of an animal belonging to a particular species.
The inductive stage of the argument may be as follows: ,ill the mem
bers of a particular species that have been observed produced spoor which
had certain characteristics, and no member of that species had been ob
served to produce spoor that did not have those characteristics. We therefore
assume that all members of that species produce spoor which have those
specific characteristics. Furthermore, no animals which did not belong to
that particular species have been observed to produce spoor which had
exactly the same characteristics. We therefore assume that only members of
the particular species in question produce spoor which have those specific
characteristics.
The deductive stage of the argument would then be as follows: we assume
that all members of a particular species and only members of that particu
lar species produce spoor which have specific characteristics. We conclude,
therefore, that any particular spoor observed to have those specific charac
teristics would have been produced by a member of that species.
In the inductive stage, generalisations are based on a limited number
of particular observations, while in the deductive stage the identity of a
particular spoor is deduced from assumed general premi�ses. In the deduc
ti�e stage, the conclusions follow logically from the given premisses. The
premisses, however, have been reached by a process of induction which
involved assumptions that cannot be logically justified (see below). Since
the truth of the premisses cannot be established logically, it follows that
the truth of the conclusions cannot be established by the premisses from
which they are deduced. Although particular conclusions may he confirmed
empirically, the truth of the conclusions does not imply that the premisses
are true.
Apart from the identity of spoor, other generalisations may be used as pre
misses to distinguish special features of spoor, such as those indicating the
sex, age, size or mass of the animal, or characteristic markings that indicate
specific gaits or activities. Generalisations about the habits, preferred habitat,
sociability, feeding patterns, and other aspects of the behaviour of animals
may also be assumed premisses from which to make certain deductions in
the interpretation of spoor.
In this book the meaning of "induction" is limited to induction by simple
enumeration. A typical induction by simple enumeration has the form:
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Scientific Research ProP,rammes
In an inductive argument by simple enumeration, the premisses and con
clusions contain the same descriptive terms (Losee. 1972). It is therefore
simply a process of empirical generalisation. Empirical generalisations con
stitute no progress in science. since they may only lead to the discovery of
facts similar to those already known (Lakatos, 1978a).
Inductive-deductive reasoning is based on direct observations and or
dinarily recognises apparent regularities in nature. Inductive knowledge,
therefore, is based on a trial-and-error accumulation of facts and general
isations derived by simple enumeration of instances. It does not explain
observations and cannot result in the prediction of novel facts. It can only
predict particular observations similar to those that have been observed in
the past. Predictions are therefore simply based on experience.
In contrast to inductive-deductive reasoning, hypothetico-deductive rea
soning involves the explanation of observations in terms of hypothetical
causes. The hypothe�es may then be used as premisses in conjunction
with initial conditions from which certain implications may he deduced.
Some of the implications deduced in such a way may include novel predic
tions. Hypothetico-deductive reasoning is an exploratory dialogue between
the imaginative and the critical, which alternate and interact. A hypothesis
is formed by a proce:,s which is not illogical hut non-logical, i.e. outside
logic. But once a hypothesis has been formed it can he exposed to criticism
(Medawar, 1969). In theoretical physics. for example, a theory is built on
fundamental concepts and postulates. or laws. from which conclusions can
be deduced. There is no logical path to these fundamental laws. They can
only he reached through intuition based on a sympathetic understanding of
experience. These fundamental concepts and principles are "free inventions
of the human intellect" (Einstein, 1954).
A char.1cteristic feature of a theoretical science is that it explains the
visible world by a postulated invisible world. So in physics visible matter is
explained by hypotheses about an invisible structure which is too small to be
seen (Popper, 1963). Similarly, in the art of tracking. visible tracks and signs
are explained in terms of invisible activities. A sympathetic understanding of
animal behaviour (see section on The Scientific Imagination below) enables
the tracker to visualise what the animal may have been doing in order to
create hypotheses that explain how visible signs were made and how they
are connected. Visible signs are therefore connected by invisible processes.
These postulated connections are inventions of the tracker's imagination.
Although these hypothetical connections cannot be seen, the conclusions
that can he deduced from them enables the tracker to anticipate and predict
visible signs.
A theoretical science such as physics is analogous to tracking in the sense
that observable properties of the visible world may be regarded as signs
of invisible structures or processes. The force of gravity cannot actually be
seen. Its postulated existence is only indicated by observable effects on
bodies similar to those that such a force would have on bodies. Nuclear
particles also cannot be seen. Physicists can only see signs, such as "parti-
de tracks'', that correspond to those that would he made hy hypothetical
particles.
Perhaps the most significant feature of hypothetico-deductive reasoning
is that in a progressive research programme a hypothesis may enable the
scientist to predict novel facts that would not otherwise have been known
(Lakatos, 197Ra). In the process of tracking down an animal, a tracker must
explain spoor in order to anticipate and predict where to find spoor further
ahead, and eventually where to find the animal itself. If the anticipation and
prediction of spoor is simply based on previous experience (i.e. based on
inductive-deductive reasoning), it does not involve the prediction of novel
facts. But when a tracker is confronted with a set of tracks and signs that
cannot be explained in terms of previous experience, a ne\\> hypothesis must
be created. If successful, such a hypothesis may enable the tracker to predict
novel facts about the animal's behaviour. Within the context of tracking.
hypothetico-deductive reasoning may enable the tracker to acquire new
knowledge that would not otherwise have been known ( see, for example,
Chapter 6) .
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning i s a constant interplay or interaction be
tween hypotheses and the logical consequences they give rise to. Deduction
guarantees that if hypotheses are true, then the inferences drawn from them
will also he true. But even if these logical conclusions are tme, it does not
follow that the hypotheses which gave rise to them are true, since false
hypotheses can lead to true conclusions (Medawar, 1969). Hypothetico
deductive reasoning may be described as a cybernetic process, in the sense
that continuous adjustment and reformulation of hypotheses is brought
about through a process of negative feedback from their deductive con
sequences. If their logical consequences are true, hypotheses need not be
altered, but if they are false, corrections have to be made (Medawar, 1 967).
The art of tracking may be regarded as a continuous cybernetic process.
In each individual hunt, working hypotheses are created to reconstruct the
animal's activities in order to predict where it was going. Such hypotheses
are continuously revised as new spoor information confirms or contradicts
the tracker's expectations. Even though the tracker's knowledge of animal
behaviour is based on experience gained from previous hunts, each hunt
may result in new knowledge and revisions of previous knowledge. In the
same fashion the collective research programme of a group of interacting
trackers will also be expanded and revised continuously.
To return to an earlier theme, we said that the process of induction in
volves assumptions that cannot be logically justified, and that hypothe�es
are formed by non-logical processes. Induction is based on the assump
tion that instances, of which we have had no experience, will resemble
those of which we have had experience. Yet there can be no demon
strative arguments to prove that such an assumption must be valid. We
can at least conceive a change in the course of nature, which sufficiently
proves that such a change is not absolutely impossible. Our assumption
that the future will resemble the past is not based on logical arguments: it
is based entirely on habit. Induction from experience has no logical justifi
cation (Hume, 1739).
Even though the process by which hypotheses are created is not logical,
hypotheses--once formed-are also generalised and assumed to be univer
sally tme. The "problem of induction" therefore also applies to hypothetico
deductive reasoning. Just as empirical generalisations that were tme in the
past need not necessarily he tme in the future, hypotheses that were tme in
the past (although it can never be known that they were true even if they
were tme), need not necessarily be tme in the future. It is reasonable to
act on the assumption that the future, will, in many ways, be like the past ,
and that well-tested theories will continue to hold, since we have no better
dssumption to act upon. lt is also reasonable to believe, however, that the
future will be very different from the past in many important ways, and that
such a course of action will at times result in failure (Popper, 1 963).
The implication of the "problem of induction" is that scientific theories
cannot be verified Scientific theories may well be tme, but even when they
are, we can never know that they are tme (Popper. 1963). Even factual
propositions cannot be proven from experience (Popper, 1 959). lf factual
propositions cannot be proven then they are fallible. And if they are fallible
the clashes between theories and factual propositions are not "falsifications",
but merely inconsistencies. So theories cannot be conclusively falsified ei
ther. Furthermore, a theory can always be protected from falsification hy
modifying some of the auxiliary hypotheses. Scientific theories are not only
equally unprovable and equally improbable, but they are also equally unfal
sifiable. Generally speaking, theories and hypotheses cannot be appraised
in isolation; rather, d continuous series of theories should be seen within
the context of an ongoing research programme (Lakatos, 1 978a).
The Scientific Imagination
The creative process is far too complex to deal with adequately in a short
section. Nevertheless, it may be instmctive to look at one aspect of creativity
in science that seems to be vital in the art of tracking. A characteristic fea
ture of the scientific knowledge of hunter-gatherers is the anthropomorphic
nature of their models of animal behaviour. This anthropomorphic ele
ment is not necessarily unscientific. On the contrary, it may well be a
result of the creative scientific imagination. Indeed, anthropomorphic pro
jection has been noted as an essential and important element in scientific
work (Holton, 1973).
Our concept of causality may have had its origin in anthropomorphic
projection. The concept could have arisen as a kind of projection of human
experience into the world of nature. When you throw a stone, tension is
felt in the muscles. When something similar is observed in nature, such
as a thrown stone striking another, it is easy to imagine that one stone is
having an experience analogous to our experience of throwing a stone. The
striking stone does something to the other stone that makes the second one
move. It is easy to see how people of primitive cultures could suppose that
elements in nature were animated as they themselves were (Carnap, 1966).
Even today elements of animistic thinking tend to persist. When a �tone
shatters a window, most people, including scientists, will say that event B,
the breaking of the window, was caused by event A, the collision of the
stone with the glass. But what is meant when it is said that event B was
caused by event A? It might he said that event A "brought about'' event B, or
"produced" event B. When trying to explain the meaning of "cause", people
fall back on metaphorical phrases such as "bring about", "bring forth",
"create", or "produce", which are taken from human activity (Carnap. 1966).
Causal relation implies predictability (Carnap, 1966). The process of sub
jective simulation, whereby we simulate subjectively the events around us, is
essentially a predictive attitude. When a scientist is interested in a given sit
uation, he/she tries to simulate the situation subjectively to achieve a form
of internal representation (Monad. 1975). In nuclear physics, the experi
menter's preconceived image of the process under investigation determines
the outcome of the observations. This image is a symbolic, anthropomorphic
representation of the basically inconceivable atomic proces�es (Deutsch, 1959'
The creative scientific imagination may function by evoking potential or
imagined sense impressions. Some physicists think of an atom by evok
ing a visual image of what they would see if the atomic model existed
on a scale accessible to sense impressions. At the same time the physi
cist realises that it is in principle inaccessible to direct sensory perception
(Deutsch, 1959). When a scientist has such a visual image, the nature of the
seeing or sensing is almost as though he/she felt like the object being visu
alised (Walkup, 1967). In thinking about a phenomenon they are interested
in, some physicists, even in highly abstract theoretical physics, may more
or less identify themselves with, for example, a nuclear particle and may
even ask: "What would I do if I was that particle?" (Monod, 1975).
This paradox becomes more striking as science becomes more sophisti
cated. In any advanced science even the simplest observation involves a
formidable apparatus of theory. The ratio of signal to noise is extremely
small in the laboratory, where the energy, the size and the period of persis
tence of the phenomena studied are minute compared to the other attendant
data. Observations in nuclear physics can only be understood and used if,
from the very beginning, the scientist has a well-structured image of the
actual connections between the events taking place. Thus modern science
is not entirely depersonalised, cold and abstract. Rather, the nuclear physi
cist may project human relationships into his/her equipment and data. The
symbolic power of useful scientific concepts lies in the fact that many of
these concepts have been importing anthropomorphic projections from the
world of human drama (Holton, 1973).
In the art of tracking the anthropomorphic way of thinking arises from the
tracker's need to identify him/herself with the animal in order to anticipate
and predict its movements. The tracker must visualise what it would be like
to be that animal within that particular environmental context. In doing this
the tracker must ask: "What would I have done if I was that animal?". To
be able to do this the tracker must know the animal very well. But in the
process the tracker superimposes his/her own way of thinking onto that
of the animal, thereby creating a model of animal behaviour in which the
animal is understood to have certain human characteristics.
The creation of such d preconceived image of what the animal was doing
is particularly important in difficult tracking conditions. In conditions where
signs are sparse, the information content of signs are very little, and where
there are many proximate signs that could confuse the tracker (i.e. where the
ratio of signal to noise is very small), the tracker needs a preconceived image
to recognise the relevant signs and to establish the connections between
them.
Considering the role of the anthropomorphic way of thinking in science,
it is by no means obvious why a physicist should think in such a way. On
the contrary, it would appear to be a rather paradoxical way to understand
highly abstract physical concepts. On the other hand, it is quite clear why a
tracker should think in such a way. This may well suggest that the creative
scientific imagination had its origin in the evolution of the art of tracking.
Intuition
Intuition may be defined as reaching a conclusion on the basis of less ex
plicit information than is ordinarily required to reach that conclusion. It
usually occurs in situations where there is not enough time to appraise cer
tain data, where the data are too complex for normal inferential proces�es,
where the relevant data are heavily confounded with irrelevant data, and
when data are excessively limited. Intuition is an inferential process in which
some of the premisses are contdined in the stimulus event and some of them
in the coding system of the perceiver, so the conclusions may go beyond
the information given (Westcott, 1968).
When a conclusion is reached intuitively, the thinker usually does not
know how he/she reached the conclusion. A great variety of cues may
be used for reaching a conclusion, without the individual having any idea
of what the cues are or how they are being used. Some elements of the
intuitive process may be conscious, while associative links may be made
unconsciously. Information may he derived from diverse and complex con
texts, and may be gained incidentally, peripherally or perhaps subliminally.
Although the individual may not know how a conclusion is redched, in
tuition is primarily based on information received from the environment
through normal sensory channels and acted upon by usual cognitive ma
nipulations. Intuition differs from normal inference only in the sense that the
individual is unaware of the process involved. Such a definition of intuition
may include creativity, but intuition may not always be creative. Intuitive
conclusions are not necessarily novel or unusual (Westcott, 1 968).
The art of tracking involves many situations in which intuitive conclusions
must be made. In difficult tracking conditions where signs may be sparse,
where signs have very little information content and where a multitude
of proximdte signs may confuse the tracker, spoor interpretation may be
largely intuitive. Subtle variations in footprints that indicate the sex, size,
age and the condition of the animal may not he well defined, and can only
be determined intuitively, especially in conditions where footprints are not
clear. In loose sand, for instance, spoor may have lost definition as the grains
of sand slid together and as the wind gradually eroded the edges. On hard
ground only fractions of footprints may he discernible. In such conditions
the tracker must intuitively visualise what the spoor looked like before it
lost definition. Similarly a large number of complex variables must be taken
into account to estimate the age of spoor so the tracker's estimate may at
best he intuitive.
During the course of tracking, a tracker is constantly taking in a multitude
of signs. On the basis of spoor information gathered over a period of
time a tracker may be able to intuitively predict the success of a hunt.
Such an intuitive prediction may be revealed in the form of "feelings" or
presentiments (see Chapter 7). In the process of tracking down an animal,
or even before an animal's tracks have been encountered, a tracker may
"feel" the near presence of their quarry by means of peripheral perception.
The tracker may, on the basis of a complexity of signs, some of which may
have been subconsciously perceived, intuitively know that the animal may
be near. Hunters may also intuitively "feel" danger hy means of peripheral
perception (see Chapter 7).
While it is clear that intuition plays an important role in tracking, and
therefore in hunting, it also plays an important role in other spheres of
hunter-gatherer societies. In their social relationships, for example, the sen
sitivity of /Gwi men and women to each other cannot be appreciated by
people living in urban situations, where perceptions of others have been
blunted hy fragmented and shallow relationships (Silherhauer, 1981 ) . Mod
ern societies in general, and education in particular, does more to stifle
than to encourage intuitive thinking. It is usually the more independent
and less socialised individuals who are more likely to he intuitive thinkers
(Westcott, 1968). It may well be that the more independent and less so
cialised individuals are more intuitive because they are less inclined to be
stifled hy society. If modern society and education were less stifling, per
haps more people would be more intuitive. This may well he the case in
hunter-gatherer societies, where intuition plays an important role not only
in tracking, but also in social relations.
The Scientific Process
Since hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari no longer live a nomadic way of
life, it is not possible to study the art of tracking in its original context. In
particular, it is not known how trackers from different bands interacted and
how new ideas were exchanged and shared by hunter-gatherer societies as
a whole. Nevertheless, a hypothetical reconstruction of the art of tracking
as a collective research programme of a community of interacting trackers
may help to explain how science originated.
As mentioned before, a research programme consists of a developing
series of theories. It has a tenacious "hard core" and a heuristic which
includes a set of problem-solving techniques. A "protective belt" of auxiliary
hypotheses. on the basis of which initial conditions are established. protects
the "hard core" from refutations. Anomalies, which always occur, are not
regarded as refutations of the "hard core", but of some hypothesis in the
"protective belt". While the ''hard core" remains intact, the "protective belt"
is constantly modified, increased and complicated (Lakatos, 1 97Ra).
A research progr.unme is theoretically progressive if modifications lead
to new unexpected predictions and it is empirically progressive if at least
some of these novel predictions are corroborated. If anomalies are dealt
with by simply making suitable ad hoc adjustments which do not lead to
the prediction of novel facts, or whose novel predictions failed, then the
research programme is degenerating. One research programme supersedes
another if it predicts progressively all that its rival predicts as well as some
novel predictions that its rival does not predict (Lakatos, 1978a).
In considering the art of tracking as a scientific research programme, it
is useful to distinguish three levels of research activity: firstly, each hunt
may be regarded as a small scale "research programme"; secondly each
individual tracker may be seen to have his/her own "individual research
programme"; and thirdly, a group of trackers who interact with one another
may be seen to have a "collective research programme".
The public component of modern science, which consists of published
papers, finished research reports and authoritative textbooks. mainly em
phasises the "collective" aspect of science, while the private aspects of the
actual research of individual scientists remains hidden from public view.
Although these private aspects are obviously of primary importance in the
creative scientific process, they are often ignored in public discussions of
science itself. The art of tracking, however, is much more individualistic
than modern science, or at least the ''public" side of modern science. The
survival of hunters ultimately depends on the success of particular hunts,
and the success of particular hunts depends on the tracking abilities of each
individual tracker. To understand the art of tracking as a collective research
programme, it is therefore necessary to consider it from the perspective of
individual trackers and particular hunts.
Each particular hunt may be regarded as a small scale "research pro
gramme" (or perhaps a ''search programme"), consisting of a series of
problem-solving events. Every hunt is a new experience (or "experiment"),
in which new problems may be encountered which may require new so
lutions, confirming or refuting previous hypothe�es. The tracker sets out
on a hunt on the assumption that the animal can be expected to act in
accordance with a set of hypotheses. These hypotheses may constitute the
"hard core" of his/her individual research programme. Once the hunt is in
progress, new information may contradict the tracker's initial expectations,
so auxiliary hypotheses may have to be summoned to explain the spoor
and predict the animal's movements. As the hunt progresses and more and
more information is gathered, initial working hypotheses that have been re
futed may have to be revised and new hypotheses added so that the tracker
can develop a better and more complete reconstruction of what the ani
mal was doing. As a hunter gains experience, each hunt may he seen as a
continuation of previous hunts.
During the course of a hunter's experience, some hypotheses may be
progressive, while others may be degenerative. If the tracker's progressive
hypotheses outweigh the degenerative hypotheses, his/her individual re
search programme will be progressive. Such a tracker will therefore become
more successful as a hunter. Conversely, if a tracker's research programme is
degenerating, s/he will not become more successful and may even become
less successful. Interaction between trackers will ensure that the ideas of
the most successful hunters will be adopted by the less successful hunters.
Conversely. the views of the least successful hunters will be disregarded
by others. The "collective research programme" of a band will therefore be
progressive rather than degenerative, since the more successful programmes
of the better hunters will supersede those of the less successful hunters.
In hunter-gatherer bands, the meat provided by successful hunters was
shared with others, including unsuccessful hunters. Since hunters could
depend on others for meat when they failed, they had the freedom to be
wrong at times. The principle of sharing therefore gave trackers a degree
of "academic freedom" to explore new ideas. The success or failure of new
ideas, i.e. the predictive value of new ideas, would determine whether they
would be taken up into the collective research programme of a band.
Thus the art of tracking, within the original context of hunter-gatherer
subsistence, would have been a science with a high degree of individ
ual freedom and flexibility. It would also have been subject to a process
of '·natural selection", since the success of the tracker's ideas would have
determined the success of the hunt, upon which the survival of the band ul
timately depended. It was not crucial that all hunters in a band were highly
successful trackers, and there would have been room for some trackers
to have degenerating research programmes. But the survival of the band
would have depended on the existence of at least a reasonable number of
trackers with progressive research programmes. While some hunters may
have "degenerated" at times, the most successful trackers would have deter
mined the progressiveness of the collective research programme. The "hard
core" of the collective research programme consisting of a number of well
established hypotheses or theories, would have been transmitted by means
of oral tradition, while a "protective belt" of auxiliary hypothe�es would
have been constantly modified and adapted.
Tradition has a fundamental role in science. The creation of traditions
brings some order into the world we live in, thereby making it rationally
predictable. Without tradition, knowledge would be impossible. The ad
vance of knowledge consists in our modification of earlier knowledge, and
everything about our traditional knowledge is open to critical examination.
Traditions therefore have the important double function of not only creat-
ing some order, but also giving us something upon which we can operate,
something that can be criticised and changed. Progress in science must pro
ceed within the framework of scientific theories, some of which are criticised
in the light of others (Popper, 1963).
The very nature of oral tradition may have made a continuous process of
discovery a necessity. In time, knowledge may be forgotten and when some
one dies a large amount of knowledge may be lost. In a small hand, with
only ten hunters, of whom only five may have been reasonable trackers,
of whom only one or two may have been excellent trackers, it is unlikely
that they could have remembered enough information to deal with every
conceivable problem that could arise in tracking. The number of possible
hypothetical connections that could he made between all the signs a tracker
may encounter in a lifetime of hunting may well be infinite. At best, they
may have been able to perpetuate through oral tradition the "hard core'' of a
collective research programme, while new auxiliary hypotheses would have
had to he invented continuously to deal with new problems as they arose.
As an ongoing research programme involving a continuous process of dis
covery, the art of tracking would have had a high degree of adaptability in
changing circumstances.
The Evolution of Science
As mentioned earlier in Part I, the similarities between tracking and modern
science may suggest how science originated by means of biological evolu
tion. Moreover, the differences between them may give some indication of
how science subsequently developed by means of cultural evolution. One
of the more obvious ways in which the modern scientist differs from the
tracker is that the scientist has access to much more knowledge by means of
documentation. He/she may use sophisticated instruments to make highly
accurate observations (especially of phenomena that cannot be seen by the
naked eye), may use computers to make complicated calculations and may
participate in scientific research programmes that involve the collective ef
forts of large numbers of scientists who may each specialise in different
fields of study. As a whole, modern science is obviously much more so
phisticated than tracking.
Part of the problem of modern science, however, is that individual scien
tists must rely to a large extent on documented knowledge. Even though
documented scientific knowledge is open to criticism in principle, it is
impossible in practice for the individual scientist to appraise critically every
thing he/she reads. If the scientist attempted to do this, he/she would simply
never get down to doing original research. The scientist must therefore rely
on the author of a work and on experimental results being repeated by
at last some independent researchers. While the scientist may have access
to a large amount of information, accepting the validity of the information
requires to a certain degree an act of faith in others. This has the inherent
danger that well-established knowledge may become dogmatic, which may
result in irrational beliefs becoming entrenched in science.
A further problem is that computers and instn1ments are made hy hu
mans and are therefore subject to human error. It is impossible in practice
for the individual scientist to check for all the possible errors involved. in
cluding conceptual errors, design errors and manufacturing errors. The use
of computers and instruments will then always entail uncertainties that are
beyond the control of the individual scientist . Although documentation, the
use of computers and instn1ments and the large-scale of modern collective
research may have considerable advantages, they also introduce new un
certainties. The individual scientist's access to a large body of knowledge
does not necessarily make it easier to reach a rational decision. The tracker,
by contrast, is in direct contact with nature. Ideas and interpretations are
continuously tested in nature itself. Signs are observed directly (without
interference of observational instruments), and hypotheses may predict fur
ther observations in the immediate vicinity. Hypothetical interpretations are
therefore open to direct criticism by any individual tracker.
A characteristic feature of an advanced science such as modern physics
is the complex hierarchical structure of hypotheses and the fact that the
chain of reasoning from observational "facts" to the most general hypotheses
may be very long (Holton, 1 973). In contrast, the art of tracking does not
have a complex hierarchical structure and the chain of reasoning from
observation to the most basic hypotheses is fairly short. Yet the lack of
a formal hierarchical structure in tracking allows for a greater multitude of
basic hypotheses. Furthermore, the hierarchical structure of an advanced
science also makes it less accessible to people who do not have sufficient
background knowledge. This situation gives rise to an authoritarian elitism
in modern science.
The most influential and dominant tradition among modern scientists in
the approach to scientific theories is elitism. According to this view, the
layman or the outsider cannot understand and therefore cannot appr.1ise
scientific theories. Only a privileged scientific elite can judge their own
work. Within the scientific elite there is an authority structure, which means
that the scientific community is predominantly authoritarian in its appraisal
of scientific theories (Lakatos, 1978b). Although authoritarian elitism may
be the dominant tradition among modern scientists it should be pointed
out that it is by no means the only school of thought. Scepticism, including
Feyerabend's 0975) "epistemological anarchism", denies that scientists can
have any authority to appraise theories. Scepticism regards scientific theories
as just one belief-system which is epistemologically no more "right" than
any other belief-system. Demarcationism, on the other hand, holds that there
exists criteria which allow the educated layman to demarcate science from
non-science, and better from worse knowledge. Demarcationists therefore
have a democratic respect for the layman (Lakatos, 1978b). In contrast to
the relatively authoritarian nature of modern scientists, trackers are much
more egalitarian. Even young trackers may, for example, disagree with their
elders and propose alternative interpretations of spoor (see Chapter 6).
A further characteristic feature of modern science is the authoritarian
practice of education. Knowledge is presented in the form of infallible sys
tems based on conceptual frameworks that are not subject to discussion
(Lakatos, 1 978b). Science students accept theories not on the basis of ev
idence, but on the authority of teachers and textbooks. Until the very lasl
stages in the education of a scientist, textbooks are systematically substituted
for the creative scientific literature on which they are based. The student
does not have to read the original works of pioneer scientists of the past.
Rather, everything the student needs to know, as far as his/her education
is concerned, is recapitulated in a far briefer, more precise, and more sys
tematic form in a number of up-to-date textbooks. This type of education
has been very effective for normal-scientific work (such as puzzle-solving)
within the tradition defined by the textbooks. But this type of scientific train
ing is not well designed to produce the scientist who will easily discover a
fresh approach (Kuhn, 1962). The learning process in tracking differs once
again in that it is an informal, dynamic process of continuous problem
solving. Even from childhood, the young tracker is expo�eJ to the scientific
process (see Chapter 6).
A striking fact about science is that it has flowered in those few cul
tures where strict limits were not set by authorities, such as among the
Ancient Greeks and in western Europe since the dawn of liberal thought.
On the other hand, science is extraordinarily barren in the authoritarian cul
tures of the world. It is in the comparatively more open and free societies
that most scientific creation and advance are taking place (Magee, 1975).
This may well be because science had its origin in relatively egalitarian
hunter-gatherer societies, where there was an almost complete absence of
authoritarianism. To the extent that societies have become increasingly au
thoritarian, creative science has been stifled and suppressed.
None of the differences between modern science and the art of tracking
require a fundamentally new way of thinking. The differences are mainly
technical and sociological. Although modern science is much more sophis
ticated, it has grown mainly quantitatively, not qualitatively. The creative
scientific process itself has not changed and the intellectual abilities required
for tracking and modern science are essentially the same.
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Index
acculturation 5 1 , 52
Ache of Paraguay 20
Acheulean toolkit 5
adaptation: biological 14, 26; to
bipedalism 4; and climatic changes
37, 39; cultural 8, 1 7, 26, 27;
ecological 52; functional, in other
species 75--6, 126, 1 35, 136, 137;
hominid subsistence adaptation 3, 12,
17, 25-7, 48; to marginal
environments 30, 33, 36, 39; and
natural selection 27; social 13, 44; and
systematic/speculative tracking 33;
technological 44; and universal
hunting methods 24
Africa 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 23, 25, 32, 38, 39, 51
Ainu hunter 20
Akoa 20, 145
ambush 20---4 , 60
animal protein, see food, animal food
anthropomorphism: and art 13--4 ; and
hunting 97; and knowledge of animal
behaviour 83-7; and religious beliefs
98; and science 1 C:,7-9; and tracking
158
anticipation in hunting and tracking 32,
59, 62, 83, 94, 104-6, 138, 149, 1 50,
155, 156, 158, see also prediction
archaeological sites: Hadar in Ethiopia
(skeleton of 'Lucy') 4; Klasies River
Mouth Caves 24, 38; Laetoli in
Tanzania 2", 4; Lebenstedt in Germany
34; Mount Carmel in Israel 7; Torralba
site 24
art: adaptive value of art Lf2, 43; and
aesthetic pleasure 43; and culture 47;
and intellectual processes 43;
Magdalenian painting and tracking 41;
meaning and symbolism in prehistoric
art 43; rock paintings 8, 4 1 , 60, 65, 65;
and social co-operation 47; and
scientific information 43; Upper
Palaeolithic art 8, 23, 42
Australian aborigines 19, 20, 1 45
Australopithecines 4, 5, 12, 24
authoritarianism 164-5
biological adaptation, see adaptation,
biological
biomes: and diet 25--6 , 30, 33; and
tracking 29-39
bipedalism 4, 1 1 , 14, 15, 18, 144
brain: enlargement of 4, 5, 7, 8, 26, 27;
evolution of brain and cultural
adaptation 27; modern brain 4 1 , 45
children 21, 22, 69-70, 165
communication: through art and
folklore 47; imitation of animal calls
in hunting 20; of knowledge 13, 43,
46, 54, 69, 162, 163; language 1 3, 27,
5 1 ; silent communication in hunting
58, 78, 108, 146; of other species
83-5, 1 1 1 , 1 1 5-16; speech and
evolution of the brain 4;
vocalisations in a.m. Homo Sapiens
8; see also storytelling
co-operation: co-operative gathering,
see subsistence, co-operative
gathering; co-operative hunting, see
hunting, co-operative; social co
operation 52
creativity: and art 8, 42, 43, 47; creative
thinking 47, 70; :md intuition 59; and
love 47; and science 4, 43, 44, 47, 83,
1 07, 108, 157-9, 161 , 1 65; and
storytelling 43; and tracking 4, 45, 7 1 ,
82, 106-8 , 150, 159; and trapping 21
criticism: and science 45, 90, 1 55, 163;
and tracking 45, 70, 71, 90, 91
Cro-Magnons 8
cultural: adaptation 8, 17, 26, 27;
change 25, 51, 52; diversity ') 1 ;
evolution 26; see also acculturation
Darwinian theory 42
demarcationism 164
diet, see food
disguises 20, 44, 63
divining 55--6
Dobe area 52, 54
domesticated animals 14, 17, 22; dogs
22, 23, 64--6 , 89; hor:ses 22, 23, 66,
1 39, 142; reindeer 22, 23
Efe of the Ituri Forest in central Africa 22
elitism 164
equipment 12, 2 1 , 22, 23, 34, 35, 52, 56,
58, 70, 96, see also weapons, see also
tools
fire 5, 12, 13, 16, 19, 2 1 , 59
folklore 47, 97, see also storytelling
food: animal food 5, 1 2-15, 17, 2 1 , 24,
30, 33, 44, 47, 54, 1 14; diet and
biomes 25---6 , 30, 33; diet and
enlargement of the brain 5, 26, 27;
diet and seasons 33, 39, 54;
knowledge of plant life, see
knowledge, of plant life; preparation
of food 1 2, 13, 25, 33, 52; seasonal
food resources and size of groups
52; sharing of food 4, 1 1 , 1 2, 13, 47,
54, 55, 162; vegetable foods 4, 5,
1 1-13, 15, 25, 26, 30, 33, 44, 47,
52--4, 1 14; see also subsistence
foraging, see subsistence, foraging
/Gwi 52, 58, 7 1 , 83, 85-8, 9 1 , 97
Hadza of Tanzania 71
Homo erectus 5, 12, 13, 24, 36, 39
Homo habilis 4, 5, 1 2
Homo sapiens: anatomically modern
(a.m.) Homo sapiens 4, 7-8, 25, 39,
41, 45, 48; archaic Homo sapiens 5,
7, 8, 36, 39; Homo sapiens sapiens 7
humility: in hunting 55; in !Xo religion 98
hunting: anticipation in, see anticipation
in hunting and tracking; with bow
and arrow 61--4; co-operative 2 1--4,
60; and divining 55, 96; and
domesticated animals 22, 23, 65; and
dreams 55, 94; equipment, see
weapons, see poison; evolution of 3,
18, 23, 24; and evolution of modem
intellect 27; and evolution of tracking
27; and humility 55; and individual
ability 70--1; and intuition 93, 94, see
also intuition; and knowledge of
animal behaviour, see knowledge, of
animal behaviour; and knowledge of
environment, see knowledge, of the
environment; and knowledge of
tracking 55---6 , 65; and magic 42, 55,
96, 97; and mental qualities 71, see
also tracking, and intellectual
abilities; and mimicry 20, 62, 79; and
myth and religion 96-8; opportunistic
hunting 34; origins of 24; and
peripheral perception 93--4 , 160;
persistence 18, 22--4, 34, 36, 60--1 ;
and prediction, see prediction; and
presentiments 94---6; and seasons, see
seasons; and the scientific process
89-91, 156, 161; strategy 55, 101;
structure of parties 55, 70; success
and tracking skills 30, 65; and terrain,
see terrain, and hunting and tracking;
and vehicles 23; see also spoor
interpretation; see also tracking
hypothetico-deductive reasoning 29,
44-5, 106, 1 53-7
individual: foraging 12; ownership 54;
research programme 1 61 , 162;
individualistic nature of tracking 9 1 ,
161, 162
inductive-deductive reasoning 29, 44-S,
106, 153-7
intuition: in hunting 93--4 ; in tracking
7 1 , 76, 77, 79, 1 59-160; in science
107, 155, 159-160; in social relations
of /Gwi 160
intellect 3, 4, 2 1 , 27, 29, 39, 41, 42, 45
Inuit 19, 23
ju/wasi (or !Kung) 1q, 20, 52-5, 58, 70,
71, 80, 8 1 , 83, 90, 9 1 , 96
Khoikhoi 51
Khoisan 51
knowledge: of animal hehaviour 16, 29,
44, 46 , 54, 55, 59, 61, 62, 65, 69, 70,
83-91, 96, 105, 148, 155-7, 159; of
the environment 29, 55, 69, 79-80,
102, 105, 149; fluctuations in
knowledge 9 1 , 163; of plant life 44,
53, 54, 56; of poisons 58; shared
group knowledge 1 2, 13, 43, 69, 108;
specialised knowledge and ecological
adaptation 52
Kutchin of North America 35
language, see communication
Late Stone Age 38
learning process 69-70, 165
Lone Tree Borehole (!Xo) 60, 76
magic, see hunting, and magic
mass-killing 22
meat, see food, animal food
metaphysics and science 96
Middle Palaeolithic period 7
Middle Stone Age 5, 6, 24, 38
mimicry 20, 62, 79
myth 47, 96-8, see also religion
natural selection 4, 25, 26, 27, 162
Neanderthal S. 7 34. 39
Nganasan of Taymyr Peninsula in
sharing: of food 4, 1 1 , 12, 13, 47, 54,
Ngwatle Pan 65
oral tradition and tracker's knowledge
46, 162, 163
ownership 54
pastoralists 5 1 , 52, 54
Penobscot Indians 20
persistence hunting,
see spoor
social organisation: co-operative
hunting methods 2 1 , 22, 60; division
see hunting,
of labour 12, 15; nuclear family 4,
52; seasonal size of hunter-gatherer
persistence
see food,
55, 162; of information 12, 13, 43,
69, 108; as a resource 54
signs,
phyletic gradualism 26
plant foods,
subsistence methods 34, 38, 39, 52;
and tracking 33-7
Russia 23
plant foods
groups 52; social co-operation 52;
and women 4
Pleistocene hominids 15
Solutreans 19
poison 20, 56, 58, 61, 63, 64, 71, 88
spoor: auditory signs 1 1 5-16; blood
population pressure 2')
prediction 44, 59, 62, 70, 79, 80, 82, 83,
89, 90, 94, 101, 104--6 , 138, 149, 150,
155, 156, 158, 160, 161, 162, 164,
see also anticipation
punctuated equilibria 26
reconstruction 29, 80, 81, �2. 97, 105,
106, 149, 150, 160, 162
religion 7, 8, 42, 47, 48, 51, 52, 96-8
research programmes 89-90, 157, 161:
collective 46, 156, 161-3;
degenerating 90, 162; the hunt as a
spoor 63-4, 1 17; circumstantial signs
1 16; faeces 64, 1 13, 1 17; feeding
signs 1 15; homes and shelters
1 17-18; incidental signs 1 16; paths
1 17; pellets 1 14-1 5 ; saliva 1 14; scent
1 13, 1 17; skeletal signs 1 17;
territorial signs 1 17; urine 1 13, 1 17;
visual signs 1 16
spoor identification: and eidetic
imagery 74; indirect 137--8; and
individual animals 30, 63, 74, 103
spoor of different species: of
research programme 161; individual
amphibians 1 26; of birds 128--3 1; of
161-2; modern scientific 46, 164;
progressive 90, 1 56, 161, 162
invertebrates 125--6; of mammals
scavenging,
scepticism
see subsistence, scavenging
7 1 , 164, see also criticism
science: creative science and
43, 44, 47, 83, 107, 108, 157-9, 161 ,
165; and anthropomorphism 1 57-9;
critical rationalist tradition 45;
evolution 163-5; and intuition 107,
155, 159--60; logic of 153-7; and
metaphysics 96--7; and
authoritarianism 164-5; origins of 44,
153, 161; scientific imagination 1 57-9;
scientific knowledge and inductive
131-7; of people 72; of reptiles 126
spoor interpretation 4 1 , 61-2, 64;
activities of animal 66, 79, 103,
138--45, 1 54; age of animal 74, 103,
1 14, 154, 160; age of spoor 30, 55,
61, 65, 76-8, 80, 93, 101, 1 13, 1 14,
138, 145-9, 160; and anticipation,
see anticipation;
condition of animal
63, 64, 65, 74, 103, 160; intuitive 76,
79, 1 59--60; and knowledge of
animal behaviour,
see knowledge,
of
animal behaviour; and knowledge of
environment,
see knowledge,
of the
environment; and reconstruction and
deductive reasoning 44, 107--8;
prediction,
scientific process 89-91, 160--3, 165;
prediction; reconstruction and new
speculative,
knowledge 80, 81, 83; sex of animal
systematic,
see science, creative;
see science, scientific
knowledge; and tradition 162-3
seasons: and diet/food 33, 39, 54; and
hunting 22, 34, 61; and size of
hunter-gatherer groups 52; and
see reconstruction, see
65, 73, 101, 103, 1 13, 123, 1 54, 160;
size and mass of animal 65, 73, 101,
103, 1 22, 123, 1 54, 160; speed of
animal 30, 55, 61 , 63, 65, 66, 79, 101,
1 1 1 , 138, 139, 1 42, 145;
spoor variations and weather
conditions 1 1 1 ; and substrate 30-6,
103-4; time, distance and direction
30, 55, 59, 63, 78-9, 80, 101, 1 12,
138; variations of individual animal's
spoor 124-5,; variations between
species 72, 73, 88, 1 14, 121-2;
variations within a species 75,
122-4; see also tracking
stalking 14, 18-2 1 , 23, 24, 34, 62, 63,
69, 7 1 , 84, 97, 109
stealth in hunting 14, 108, 109, 121, 135, 136
storytelling: aesthetic pleasure and
artistic expression 43, 69;
anthropomorphic story tradition of
the Khoisan 97; and hunting 54;
shared group knowledge and the
learning process 43, 69; see also oral
tradition
subsistence: and biomes 34; bluffing
16, 17; collecting 13-14, 26, 52; and
environmental pressure 25; foraging
1 1-13, 15, 26, 44; gathering 12-13,
27, 33, 44, 47; hunting 17-25, see
also hunting; pirating 15, 16; and
population pressure 25; predation
14, 17, 18, 26; robbing 16, 17, 64-5;
scavenging 5, 14-17, 25-7, 30, 34,
37, 38; subsistence methods and
seasons 34, 38, 39, 52
terrain: and subsistence methods 13,
18, 19, 20, 22; and hunting and
tracking 29, 30, 55, 61, 65, 82, 102-7,
1 1 1 , 1 2 1 , 1 24, 136, 137
territorial expansion 25
tools 4, 5, 7, 8, 1 2, 15, 19, 20, 23, 33,
35, 56, 57", 58, 70, 96
tracking: and animal population density
30--2 , 105; and anthropomorphism
158-9; and anticipation and
prediction, see anticipation, see
prediction; in arid conditions 30--3 ,
35; and biomes 29-39; and climatic
changes 37, 39; and creativity 4, 45,
71, 82, 106-8, 150, 159; and critical
attitude 45, 70, 90, 91; and
development of hunting 3;
with dogs 64, 1 1 3; egalitarian nature
of tracking 165; and empathy 64, 83,
94, 105, 107, 1 58; and evolution of
scientific intellect 4, 48; and
45, 106, 107, 108, 156; and
intellectual abilities 29, 39, 46, 71,
153, 165; and intuition 71, 76, 77, 79,
1 59-60; and knowledge of animal
behaviour, see knowledge, of animal
behaviour; and knowledge of the
environment 79-80, 102, 105;
learning process in tracking 69, 70,
165; and prediction 1 05-6; and
prehistoric cave art 41; and
proximate signs 31, 103, 104, 159,
160; and recognition of signs 44,
101-4; and reconstruction, see
reconstruction; as a science 45, 46,
153, 161 ; and seasons 33-7; simple
tracking 29-33, 35-9, 42, lf4;
simple/systematic 36, 39, 45; in snow
29, 30, 33-7, 39, 1 1 1 ; speculative
tracking 29-30, 32, 38-9, 42, 45,
82-3, 106-8; and stealth, see stealth,
in hunting; and substrate 29, 30-6,
38, 103, 104, 105, 1 1 1, 124, 137, 160;
systematic tracking 29-30, 32, 35-9,
42, 44, 82, 106-8;
systematic/speculative 32-9, 42, 45,
107; and terrain 19, 82-3, 103, see
also terrain; and vegetation cover
26-36, 103-4; and visualisation, see
visualisation; and weather 30--3 , 104,
1 13, 160; see also hunting, and spoor
trade 5 1 , 56
trapping 17, 21-4, 38; artificial traps
and snares 20--2 , 56, 59, 60, 70; and
intellectual development 2 1 ; natural
traps 1 1 , 20-- 1 , 34, 58-60, 82, 1 18
Upper Palaeolithic 8, 1 9, 20, 23, 4q
vegetable foods, see food, vegetable
foods
vehicles and hunting 23
visualisation and tracking 105, 1 q5, 150,
155, 156, 158
weapons 8, 12, 16-20, :H. 51, 5q-() , 57" ,
58-66, 69-7 1 , 96
women 4, 12, 2 1 , 22, 53. 55, 73, 78
/Xam hunter-gatherers 94
!Xo hunter-gatherers 52, 58, 60, 70,
72-6, 79, 80--5 , 87-9, 91, 93-6, 109

The Art of Tracking, the Origin of Science

Transcription

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